I was sad that the Rock Cut mountain biking season was on its last day yesterday, but excited that we were going to do a night ride to close it out. We met at the tennis courts at the small neighborhood park just up the bike path for the ride into Rock Cut.

It was already pitch black at 5:30pm, but my bike was lit up with HID lights on my helmet and handle bars, LED lights on the bars and seat post and a flashing tail light just for good measure. Man, I was lit up like a Christmas tree. As a general rule of thumb, I don’t ride when the temperature drops below about 28. Last night was 29. There was still a little snow from the dusting the night before, but most had melted during the day and the trails were crusty with ice. My fingers were already going numb.

We turned off the bike path and onto the Split Tree trail. I led, not so much because I wanted to, but because that’s were I happened to be when we hit the singletrack and the faster guys couldn’t pass me. Though, they were very polite about going so slow. I couldn’t feel myself shifting gears up and down the technical trail and had to listen hard to the chain and pay close attention to my cadence to be sure, top that off with the tunnel vision of the headlights on the night ride and the cold air that was freezing my lungs and I was having a hard time. By the top of the last hill I had to stop, catch my breath, and try to puke. My fingers started stinging as I tried to warm them on the headlight.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve ridden that section of trail over the years, but this time, on the last day of the season I couldn’t go any more. My fingers were frozen and my lungs were stinging from the cold. We had only just started on the last lap around the park this year and I had to turn back. It’ll be four months before I’ll have the chance to ride that trail again. April Fool’s Day is already marked off on my calendar.