Anthem Moonlight Ride

This was a LOT of fun and I recommend it to everyone - whether you've ridden a bike the last 10 years or not. It was a very casual ride. It was a little hairy at first as hundreds of riders tried to get going. Lots of coasting on one pedal and I even walked my bike for a few hundred yards. But everyone was very friendly and we did finally get moving. I was just glad the ride start did not resemble this:We had a great time waving to kids who were watching. We rode up Hermitage/Lakeside from The Diamond, then through Bryan Park. As we entered Bryan Park, the sun went down for real. It got DARK. Funny how that works. Anita, of course, carefully outfitted our bikes with headlights and taillights, but it was still crazy-dark and lots of riders had no lights. The organizers had put down glow sticks to keep us on the road, but some kids were stopping unexpectedly to pick the glow sticks up! It was a little frightening, but we got through it with no casualties.

As we finished up, we saw the entire IMUSA team lounging around. This was a little shocking as they said they were riding the full moon and gave us a comical look when told we were doing the 1/2 moon. Now I know I'm slow, but to have them be well-rested and have their bikes put away before I could ride 8 miles is a little ridiculous. Turns out that the long course turn was only a few hundred yards away from the finish and the beer was calling louder than more biking. So, we didn't get lapped!


Here's a picture of "The Dream Team" getting ready to ride with Anita playing caboose in her Christmas lights:
After the ride, we put our bikes away and shared a beer or two with the dream team and IMUSA dream team. Not sure how I took no pictures of the IMUSA team, but it was fun hanging out with them and hearing just a few of their tales.

Everyone has to do this one next year.