Night Ride & Cookies

Night Ride

With Alex's forecast of the brightest full moon until next winter, I decided I needed to take advantage of these conditions with a night ride. Sure, my ghetto light system provides more than enough light, but having the moon light up the surroundings adds to the experience. I just needed to decide where to ride.

I told Rick I was considering the Draper or Orem trails and he indicated that the Orem trails were good to go (he rode them at lunch Wednesday) but that Draper was very snowy (thanks for the info, Rick!). I should have put together that the north-facing Draper trails would hold onto snow. So Orem it was.

When I arrived at home I got dressed and headed out. A short distance on the roads later I was climbing the water tank road above the Orem Cemetery. Unfortunately there was a layer of high clouds that blocked the moonlight most of the time, but the bright moon still added to the ambiance of the ride.

I went up Betty then took Roller Coaster part way down and took a minor trail back up the ridge to connect into Blackbird which I took up to Crank. Along the way I saw the leg bones of a deer in the middle of the trail. I swear it looked bloody and fresh. I kept riding but was now frequently scanning side-to-side and behind me. Becoming a meal for a cougar just doesn't sound like a nice way to go out.

I descended Crank. Even with it's north-facing it only had a skiff of snow and was fun to ride.

Back on Betty I took Roller Coaster and the minor trail again so I could go down Blackbird and connect with the bottom of Ireland to extend my ride a little more, and hit two nice little jumps.

I took the water tank road down, but couldn't quite call it a night so I did an out-and-back on the BST up to Dry Canyon. There were two "parked" cars there and I imagine I surprised them, but didn't pry to see if I interrupted anything.

I stayed pretty warm, but my left toes were the coldest. I lost my left toe warmer going down Crack Saturday.

It was a nice ride, but why do I feel worked over? This ride would have been a hardly-any-effort jaunt only a few months ago. Losing fitness is sad.

Cookies

I'm impressed by the amazing culinary creations (mostly deserts, it seems) that Mark's wife creates. But my bride makes a few inventive creations that deserve credit. Check out this oddly shaped cookie:



Yes, that lump could be a lot of things, but what? Let's do a bite-cision and see if it helps us identify the mystery lump:



Any guesses? OK, OK, nobody likes a tease - it's a mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cup!

And believe me, wraped in a chocolate cookie the combination is incredibly tasty. Maybe I could auction or raffle some of these cookies off to raise money for cancer? Hmmm.