Antelope by Moonlight

Yes, that was last Friday night, but because of computer problems, I am not getting to it till today.

This is the third year that I have ridden in the Antelope by Moonlight ride, and I still say that it is a great fun ride. I didn't really take any pictures - I tried that the year before, and since the ride is at night, they didn't turn out very well.

This year I decorated my bike for the ride. I found some glow bracelets at Target, 15 for $1.00, so I bought 2 packs, and wrapped them around the main triangle...

While it was still light,

After dark.

The ride starts at 10:00pm, under the full moon. This year there had to have been more than 1000 cyclists, there were still people coming across the causeway when we were starting out. I ran into a few friends, Jim, Randy, and Mike. We decided that because of the number of kids, and first-timers, we would fare better if we were at the front of the group, so before the ride started, we worked our way up to the front. While we were up there, a photographer for the Davis County Clipper took some pictures of us. Unfortunately he didn't use any of those pictures, but I still ended up in the newspaper.

Me in my Tour de Cure jersey. Randy is two heads to my right, wearing the same jersey, and Jim and Mike are to my left.

Like I mentioned before, it is a really fun ride. It starts at the marina on the island, and goes out to the Fielding-Garr ranch at the south end of the island, 11 miles later. There are a few climbs along the way. I looked back at several points, and all I could see was a solid line of lights, like a glowing river along the road. Out at the ranch, there was food, and they had a drawing for various prizes, including a bicycle. We decided not to wait around for the drawing to start, and headed back shortly after we got there. There were still a steady stream of riders coming out as we were heading back. A couple of impromptu sprint races later, we were back at the marina, just after midnight. After we loaded our bikes in our cars, someone had the idea of going to Denny's for coffee. At 1:00, not too many people care, or pay attention to 4 guys in Lycra sitting in a booth eating mozzarella sticks and diet coke (my choice for a midnight snack). Anyways, while we were there, a group of goth teenagers came in, so we were no longer the strangest-dressed people in the restaurant. As we were leaving a few more cyclists showed up at Denny's. I had decided to stay at my Mother-in-law's house so I didn't have to make the long drive back home - she lives about 5 miles from the causeway - and was in bed asleep by 2:30. Good times!