Quiet night on the trail

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While I still haven't gotten the race report from 24 hours in the sage written that doesn't mean I've been slacking! It has been a busy few weeks. We just finished painting the bedroom, a really warm brown that looks great. Still waiting on getting blinds and such, but now one step closer. That meant that yesterday's ride turned into a night ride. We headed out about 7:00 with full lights and meandered up thru stratton. The plan was to just ride Buckhorn and Jacks, then meander home. Stratton was quiet on the way up but Gold Camp road was crazy busy. And none of the cars wanted to either slow down or give us an inch of space. Really frustrating. And the road was really dusty which made things even worse. Finally on Buckhorn and full darkness. With no cars and no hikers it was perfectly still. Just the two of us and the beams of our lights. Had a good climb and stopped to adjust lights at the top. Then down we headed. And I was slow this time! Between my normal hesitancy on Jack, the darkness and the really deep loose gravel, I might have been setting a record for the slowest descent off Jacks. It didn't help that Jacks was in really bad shape with lots of deep gravel and eroded ruts. But after I got used to the washed out color of the gravel we were able pick up some speed. The night was perfect for a ride, still a little warm but with s slight chill in the air. And so quiet. We were the only people on the trail. I did hear a few big animals, but Nick assured me just deer. More night rides to come as Autumn and Winter arrive.

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