Calmer Subdued Gladiator Night Ride

Thursday night ... that means Night Ride. It's our weekly Gladiator painfest. Last time I did this, we were out till 11 pm, which means I wouldn't get home till around 11:40 pm, and hit the sack till midnight. So I asked ... ok, pleaded ... no, begged ... to shorten it a little bit, and finish earlier, since I have to get to work at 6 am. Ramon couldn't make it, so we knew the pace would be a little calmer, more sane. He had this excuse about not being able to figure out some network issue. I guess a reboot didn't fix the problem?

Pete, Chris, myself, and Marco charged on the ride. This time, we all decided to go easy on the pace in the beginning, all knowing we'd be climbing hills all night. True to form, I camped out my usual position ... in the back!

I had changed out my brake pads the night before, so obviously, I had to get used to the new brakes. I didn't have time to do fine tuning, so this would be interesting. What I didn't anticipate was my front derailleur not shifting ... OMG ... Big chain ring on these hills??? You gotta be kidding. I had to stop, and check it out ... after shifting around a little bit, it finally kicked in ... that was weird.


This just meant I was further behind. I knew we had to make a turn on Parrot Ave, but I made a right ... I should have made a left. Luckily, I heard Chris's voice in the other direction ... oops ... u-turn time!

After re-grouping, back on the route. Since this is the second time around the neighborhood, at least the roads are not as foreign to me. It's one thing to ride new roads in daylight, but to ride it in pitch black darkness ... now that's a challenge. The skittish part is on the descents, because you don't know what your encountering around the other side of the curve. With the new brakes, I had to be a little more cautious.

After the first set of hills, we ventured down to Canada Road (crossing the overpass over the 280 freeway). Canada Road was a bit chilly ... I think we had a 15-20 degree dip in temperature. Very nippy, but not painful ... it's that crispness in the air that comes with winter. It's a good thing I have my thermal gloves ... I don't see how Marco does it. He only had short fingered gloves, and shorts ... no tights!!!! But then again, he's got youth on his side.

I was able to hang in with the group on Canada, maintaining a good 12-18 mph pace. It's eerie, as there are no lights out there, and it's isolated, so we completely relied on our lights. Good thing everyone else had strong HID's.

I hung in until we hit Crestview ... now if you want a wall, this is it. I didn't pay attention to the grade, but it's gotta be somewhere in the teens. All I knew was I am not in it for the race. Yeah, they'll be waiting for me at the top, but I am not about to blow my knees out.


Up at the top, it was a nice view. One of these days I gotta get the hang of taking night pictures, especially with gorgeous night light views from the top. Pete and Chris were busy taking pictures with the moon in the background. I'm not that artistic, so I didn't even try. But that didn't mean I couldn't take goofy pictures either ... and Pete is just the perfect target.

There were many houses with an amazing display of santa, reindeer, penguin, and frosty animatronics ... but did I stop to take any pictures???? Of course not ... the only unfortunate thing about being on a gladiator ride is not being able to stop to take pictures of scenery. I can only imagine what the PG&E bill for the neighborhood we rode around. I do wanna thank those homeowners for letting us stare at their property, in a way that in other times of the year, would think I was a stalker, and they would call the cops on me. Alas, no pictures, so you'll have to use your vivid imagination.