Night Ride at Green Mountain

I (Ben) had my first adventure with mountain biking at night last Thursday. Trevor let me tag along with him and borrow a headlight which is supposed to prevent death. It did its job. Unfortunately, I was trying out a new set of clipless pedals I had gotten for my birthday (I know, that was a long time ago, but I don't get out that much any more - too many kids!). I had tried them out in the neighborhood, riding in the grass and simulating crashes - making sure I could get my feet unclipped when I needed. I did good in the grass simulation. Not so good on the mountain. Needless to say, I had a few new scrapes and bruises when all was said and done. Sadly enough, most of the falls were when I'd catch up to Trevor, stop, and then fall over when I couldn't get my foot out. Fortunately it was completely dark so no one else got to see and laugh. But the view of the city lights was good and we had a lot of fun. There were areas of snow on the trail and puddles. It was nice to get out and get a little muddy. In the last picture you can see behind me some small lights - those are deer eyes. (If you can see them...) Trevor almost ran over about 15 deer as he came around the corner. They apparently didn't want to stick around and pose for the picture.