Gunchie
10-26-2009, 11:48 PM
I recently bought myself a Light & Motion Seca 900 to go along with the Stella 180N I already had so of course I had to try it out. I known in the back of my mind I shouldn't had even started the ride since it had snowed the day before, but it had been sunny all day and the trails around here tend to dry out much quicker than in the midwest. I packed up and headed to a trail called "Green Mountain". It's name comes from the fact it is at pretty low in elevation so the snow melts off of it quicker than the higher elevation mountains. It's pretty much a small mountain surrounded by subarbs so it's a good place to get a quick ride in, and I figured it would be a safe place to night ride because you're never too far from civilization. As I started my ride on the east side of the mountain I didn't think it was too bad. This side gets plenty of sun so there was no mud so I kept riding. I climbed to the top and rode across the north side to the west side; these areas were both dry as well. After a great descent across the west side I came to south side which has the lowest elevation and less sun than the other sides. This area wasn't wet enough to be slippery, but wet enough to make the mud like moist clay. The last two miles of the ride I spent taking off my tires to scoop off the mud with my hands, and a lot of picking up the bike and hiking with it since the wheels wouldn't move because of the mud build up. To make things worse every time I shined my light on the mountain side I saw a sea of glowing eyes staring at me. My guess is coyotes... and enough to gang up on me to take me down. Luckily the trail I was on is pretty rocky and so ridden in I didn't do any damage to the trails, just myself. I thought I would never end that ride. By far the worse ride I've ever been on.