Election Night Gravel.

 I opted to take Monday off from riding to let my knee fully heal.  It felt fine but more rest and recovery never hurts.  I voted right away when the polls opened at 7 on Tuesday so another morning without riding.  I had already planned to ride that night.  Great weather and a good way to avoid hours in front of the TV watching election results.

When I left on the Cutthroat it was 73 degrees!!  Crazy.  The wind was very nominal as well.  I decided on riding the Dirt Bag course I always ride, my version of it anyway.  I know the route very well so even at night I know when and where the turns are.

I'm still adjusting to the quickness of darkness.  I turned my headlight on around 5:15 or so.  Even more crazy was the temperature.  I figured it would drop when the sun went down so I brought a vest, arm warmers, and warmer gloves.  I ended up using them all.  My toes and ears got a bit cold but nothing bad. Throughout the night I would hit crazy cold pockets of air in low lying areas and by any lake.  The top of hills were almost too warm.  

I wasn't sure if I would do the whole Dirt Bag or cut out at some point.  There are many options for an early departure, another reason I like this route.  Every cutout point I checked the time and how I felt and pushed on further.  I did cut out a few sections, but overall did a large portion of the route.  

The Ride.

30 degree temperature swing!

I stayed up too late watching election results and it's hard to "just go to sleep" after a long ride.  I guess I got up early enough to ride this morning but I have a couple of errands to run before going to work so most likely another afternoon ride.  Much shorter than yesterday.

Get out and enjoy the weather.  Next week we are back in the 30's for a high.