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Felt tired in the morning so I decided to wait until dusk to ride out. This meant another nightride which I solved by riding laps again into Mollendaalbos. I had very bad GPS reception, my Garmin failed to find any satellite and the Endomondo tracker also took a lot of time to give the GPS OK message. I fear the total amount of heightmeters which my Garmin gave me might be a little on the optimistic side, since I started out at 5m altitude and it picked up 60 metres during the first couple of kilometers into the ride. So 450 to 460 might be more realistic than the 515 it gave me at the end of the ride. The GPS signal remained bad throughout the ride.
The first 2 laps were completed in the quickly fading light. I had expected the tracks would be wetter than last friday, because it rained a bit in the night from friday to saturday, but to my surprise they were actually dried out almost completely. The leaves on the tracks were still making them very treacherous, especially since I slightly modified my loop to incorporate another singletracks which has quite a few roots crossing it. The last 3 laps I had the Lupine Tesla on and the speed remained as fast as the first laps. There was quite a bit of noise in the forest, some owls for starters, and I saw one or two of them flying along at the edge of my lightcone. When darkness fell completely the last walkers had left the trails and I was all alone - with a million creatures lurking just beyond my beacon of light. Or so I imagined. A vivid imagination can run some shivers down your spine in these conditions but at least you do not see what lies in the darkness.
Back to the ride, that went fine, my legs were not in tiptop shape but I left my backback at home which saved me almost 3 kilograms of weight. I figured that since I did not venture further than 3-4K from my home, having a flat would not cost me more than a 30-40 minute walk. I could take one of my Vittoria Pitstop bottles with me on these kind of rides, which might inflate a flat just enough to ride home.
Riding without a backback is indeed allowing me to breather easier and puts less strain on my shoulders and neck. I might consider doing this more often.
Endomondo track
Ride Stats : 42.5K and 395/515 heightmeters (Polar/Garmin) in 2h14mins
11545/98900
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