Blue Moonlight Biking

Last week I participated in the Anthem Moonlight Ride in Richmond for the first time, along with my brother. It was a lot of fun!

You had the option of biking 8 miles or 17 and we both did the 17 mile course which took us on main roads throughout RVA (Monument Ave.), through some neighborhoods and side streets, and through Bryan Park which was my absolute favorite part since it was so dark but the path was lined with glow sticks. There is a costume contest and tacky lights contest as well, and many people dressed up and had glow sticks, Christmas lights, etc.

I can’t say the entire course was super easy, as there were some hills to conquer but they were doable and where there’s an up, there’s a down! Keep in mind that my bike is a $150 Huffy bike from Target (snicker, snicker) – no, it does not have a basket or pom pom strings hanging from the handlebars, but it DOES have a sweet bell! Given that I don’t have many gear options, I was happy with myself that I did not have to stop, get off of my bike or stand up in order to get to the top of the hills; I just pushed on through as best as I could on the highest gear and did it. It drizzled a bit in some parts but didn’t bother me whatsoever – it actually felt good. There were at least 2 food/drink/bike mechanic pitstops along the way but I didn’t want to stop my stride. Although my bike speedometer was not calibrated correctly and said I did 28 miles, I managed to do 17 miles in 1 hr. 30 min. My brother completed in 1 hr. 13 min. I was happy with that given that the website said the avg. was 2 hrs. to complete the course. In the past, before having Abby, I had done the Livestrong 20 mile course in PA. Can’t remember what my time was for that but I remember stopping to eat along the way haha.

After the ride (not race), we got in line for our free food (Papa John’s pizza, Jimmy John’s subs, ice-cream novelties, Blue Moon beer and other drinks) and listened to the after-party band named the Good Birds. I heard that they ran out of food later on so I guess there needs to be some better planning in that area for next time. And next year I hope to do it again!

Once we left and I began the drive back home, the skies opened up and the rain really started to come down throughout the night and the next day. We lucked out with the weather!