I went out for the GDB Tuesday night WR ride -- lights required, and dust mask and glasses recommended...   The group actually split up between those who wanted to ride to downtown Dallas and a dozen or so who wanted to do the trail.  I hadn't been down the trail in a while, so I opted for that.  I was the only 'bent in the group, which is typical for this ride - but I had put on my Alex "bombproof" wheels and Kojaks for the evening's fun, for a bit more footprint and cushion from the trail roughness.
 
Being familiar with the ride, I had brought my dust mask -- if you ride at the back of a dozen fat-tired mountain bikes, you find yourself in a real cloud.  We went down the trail at 17-20 mph, encountering maybe a dozen people along the 5 miles down to NWHwy.  We climbed Flagpole Hill, then circled back to West Lawther to cross NWHwy and hit the lake.
 
Once we crossed the footbridge, the sprint began, into a stiff wind.  A couple of guys broke off the front at ~22+, so I joined in, able to catch them into the wind...  I basically stayed with them all the way down to the 7-11, holding 20-22 the whole way -- which surprised me that they could hold that on MTBs into that headwind.  Then when we got to the 7-11, I realized they were both on road bikes with slick tires...
 
The group opted to skip the Loving hill climbing tonight, and did the usual sprint back up the west side, to regroup at Mockingbird, holding 24-25 with a tailwind the whole way up West Lawther.  I then put my dust mask back on for the ride back up the trail, but I was third in line this time, so the dust was greatly reduced -- as we held ~20 mph all the way back up to Forest Lane, for 23 miles total.
 
In a funny note, one of the guys asked me when we got back to the start, "Paul, do you even OWN a road bike?"  I replied, "What for???"      (He laughed, too...)
 
The cool temperatures were very nice, and it had been a long time since I'd done a night ride down there...  I took a few photos along the way in the first half, they're viewable at:
 
  http://www.greaterdallasbicyclists.com/gallery/WRL1020
 
Paul

Quote from aikigreg on Oct 21^st, 2009, 6:43am:

 
 
Which is the word one of the contestants on the Biggest Loser show used a couple weeks ago, talking about the exercise bike in the gym...