Snow ride

Roads were still pretty icy along the shoulders this morning, so ditched the road ride plans and loaded up my singlespeed 29er and went over to Ipswitch to check out the trails.  I havent had so much fun riding these trails in a long time. The trails were still really crunchy and in some spots the snow was untouched. I did about 2 hours and about 9 miles total, and grinned ear to ear the entire time.

Night riding

Discovered a new dimension to riding that I cannot believe I waited so long to explore, night riding. A few weeks ago, frustrated by the early darkness and busy family schedule, I decided to strap on the set of lights I use for commuting and hit the local trail. What an experience, the same switchbacks and log crossings that have become almost mundane were fresh & new (and a bit scary). My first couple of rides I used a nite rider minewt 300 on my helmet & a nite rider sol 150 on my bars.
On Monday, I received a new light to use on my helmet, a magicshine 808e. It's rated by the company as 1000 lumens, but the reviews on mtbr say it's closer to 700. Comparing the new light to my minewt 300, well, there is no comparison. The beam is stronger, tighter, and seems to last longer. I charged all 3 of the lights overnight and left them on high while at work, 6 hours later the 808e had turned itself down to the lowest of the 3 settings but was still running strong. I did notice that the casing was hot. After a little search on google, the light relies on air cooling, which will wont be an issue under normal conditions.
Vid clip of my buddy Christian crossing a bridge at Ipswitch on our most recent night ride.

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