Sunday, November 1, 2015 at 2:00am marks the end of Daylight Savings Time, at least in some parts of the world. Some will squawk about the clocks winding forward, throwing off their equilibrium, until they’re reminded of the extra hour of gained sleep. But, there is the darkness and the cooler temperatures – or cold temperatures with snow, if you live anywhere north of say Greenville, South Carolina.
In the USA home town of the Gravel Cyclist crew – Gainesville, Florida – we don’t have Siberian-like winters. But on occasion, the temperatures dip into the negatives Celcius (or sub 32 Fahrenheit if you prefer), albeit sans snow. Those temperatures are mixed with humidity, which have a habit of stinging hard at one’s extremities, especially when sweat has encroached the inside of one’s gloves.
But, we don’t like to sit indoors and ride our bicycles stationary style when daylight savings ends. Rather, we head out on Tuesday and Thursday evenings with a bunch of like-minded cyclists to stay fit and motivated.
Typically, the month of November is ridden at a mellow pace, but that can rapidly change at any moment. Anyone overheard stating they have bad legs, feel knackered or totally sleep deprived is usually lying, and will invariably cause suffering later in the ride. You can consult the Gravel Cyclist Dictionary for other useful terminologies relating to these topics.
The month of December is when the “Wintervals” really kick off, and the Tuesday ride, aka the “Worlds” ride is the primo ride of the week. But, we have a rule on these rides – nobody is left behind after we finish each sector of dirt, limerock and gravel. This helps to encourage people to ride hard on each sector, and not worry about being dropped and left for dead.
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015 marks the start of the official nighttime cycling season in Gainesville – and if past attendance is anything to go by, we can expect 10 – 16 riders on the first night – fun times!
We’re sure we are not alone with our nocturnal training activities. So, if any of our riders would like share what they get up to in the dark hours of Winter, please chime in using the comments box below.
Thanks for reading – and expect posts of our nighttime antics soon!
I’m with you on this. I host a weekly meetup ride, albeit for mountain bikes, here in Escondido. We call it Taco Tuesday – or TT (as in Time Trial or Tourist Trophy) for short – as we head over to On the Border afterwards to rehydrate and enjoy a taco or two. The pace is generally brisk to zippy.
BTW, we do move the clock back but that gives us an extra hour of sleep 🙂
It’s the Spring time change where we lose an hour :(.
Knew I should have proofread this article a little better, totally messed up the time change… d’oh!
Thanks for the info about your ride Doug, and helpful feedback – article edited 🙂
Our night ride name keeps morphing.
It has been called the Lycenthrop ride, Northern Exposure, Northern Exposer,
Night Crawler, and Mudd Brothers – after JOM and Dr. Pain who fight like brothers but
are not actually brothers.
Currently they are the Night Rides.
We have also named noteable sections of the route.
We have: Sandpit of Doom, the Artesian Spring of Perpetual Mud, the Flappalacian Mountains and the Landing Strip.
There is also once slippery corner we name after the most recent rider to slide off.
It has been Ed’s Corner, Clay’s Corner and most recently Dr. Pain’s corner. Soon another will have this honor.
Tuesday’s ride is now known as GCX Worlds…