It was a pleasure to read c’Dude’s writeup of his recent late-night bike ride through the wilds of rural Johnson and Miami county (You don’t know the POW-ah…).

Once again, the full moon calls… This time, four brave souls amassed — as much as four people can “amass” — for the fifth edition of the Dark Side Ride aka Full Moon Fever.

The route carried the four from the new Spring Hill High School in a big loop towards the south and east – west on the newly-opened 199th street, south on Woodland to 223rd and then east, south on Lackman, east again on 247th, then north on Metcalf to 199th, west one mile on 199th, north on Antioch to 175th, west to Ridgeview, then back to the school.

The funny thing is, I rode nearly this exact route just this last Saturday morning, except that I started and ended at home, and took 199th all the way west rather than swinging north to 175th. It was a very fast ride (for me, at least) – nearly 36 miles at just over a 16 MPH average.

That’s actually one of my favorite local routes – there’s very little traffic, the roads are good, and the countryside is quite beautiful and peaceful.

I’ve never joined any of the Team CommuterDude rides, though I’ve often been tempted. I’d have been even more tempted to join this one if I’d known they were riding this particular route (the starting point and route are kept secret for some reason). I’m also not so sure about the safety of the riding-at-night thing, but that’s probably just because I’ve never done it.

I think my bike could be made night-worthy fairly easily – I have a front light I could mount up, and I already have a rear blinky light on board. I should probably add a few bits of reflective tape to the bike, but other than that it should basically be ready to roll.

Another magic night-time ride in the books…. morning will come quick, but the memories will last. I can’t wait to get down to the maps and plan the next one of these!

Oh well, maybe another time.