Midnight Mass May 24th

For Royalists, May 24th is the REAL Victoria Day. (Just a little aside). I headed to MM with purpose. To make sure that Simon's baby has a life of its own. The 1st one while he is away. I arrived 23:40, mere seconds behind the first arrival. It was his 2nd one (his 1st was last summer) so he wondered where all the people were. Sure enough, 23:47 a few more arrived, and by 11:55 there were at least 20. The atmosphere was a little subdued, being Simonless I presume, and people seemed a little hesitant, not sure how it would turn out. There were some new faces, a good bunch of regulars, and some newer to MM in the past few rides.
At a couple minutes past midnight, somebody asked when the ride would leave. Another person responded with 'then call "5 minutes" '. Then Kati J showed up, and I said "here's Kati J, we can go now" and another person seconded the motion. A few people made the roll-out call of "2 minutes", somebody else called "5 minutes", and another started calling numbers randomly, like a rocket launch count-down that had been jumbled. But we actually started rolling about 00:10. Destination 'Oak & 33rd'.
So we go along Commercial and turn onto 10th Ave, nothing unusual in that, after all 10th is a bike route, but the leading riders pull into the China Creek skate park. There were a few boarders there, eventhough it is pitch black, no lights, and we start talking with a couple of them. Then a couple bikes go for the bowls. I took a couple of spind too. Never having visited them in daylight, it was kinda eerie, a black abyss when going over the edge, then the bike light is at the right angle to shine into the bowl and then the bike is in the bottom, and speed nust be maintained to get out the other side or to ride the bowl itself without sliding down sideways. If you don't go fast enough you can't ride at an angle which will allow full pedal rotation, and if you can't pedal fully, lack of speed means side-slipping into the bottom, and not enough speed to ride out of it. It was a fun little detour, but it didn't last long, only 1/2 dozen or so tried it, them we aboandoned it to the boarders.
Onward to our quest. At Oak & Douglas a few stopped as the lead goup carried on, and asked if we weren't going to "The Ghettodrome" (alias 'The Crescent' to motorists and Shaughnessy residents). The response was 'no, Oak & 33rd, we can always come back if it sucks'. Further along Oak st we attained 33rd, and Eric Hamber S.S. in particular, noting the oval track. In we go. After stopping briefly to extinguish headlights and putting rear ones in 'steady' mode (no flashing) we boot it around the track a few times. OK, so not EVERYONE did, but most went around at least once. After testing the track a bit we hung out as usual. As the night went on, a few people departed bit by bit till it was suggested to go for food. About a dozen of us headed for the Naam again. Some turned left at 12th some at 10th, but I like going down Broadway at this time of night (it was only about 01:30), so I did. Then when I hit Arbutus, I felt like doing something different. I was at the Naam 2 weeks ago with the gang, why not go to Seigels. So I did. Only problem was that I didn't know Seigels is no longer 24hrs. I check my watch, lots of time to catch the 02:09 NightBus back to Whalley. Went to Vanier Park, took a few pictures of the city lights and their reflections from English Bay, then cruised over Burrard Bridge, down Hornby to Dunsmuir and wrong-wayed it over to Howe, put my bike on the N19's rack, and waited for the driver to get back. Had a nice conversation with another couple waiting for the bus. At 02:15 we note that he's a little late, and just then he arrives. The woman had been saying that they usually leave right on time, and then notices that their bus isn't one of the ones in line. Turned out their's waits south of Dunsmuir, while all the other are on the north side, and it had left already. Ah well, they'll only have another 20 mins or so to wait now.
The bus driver sits for a bit, and we don't leave until 02:20. The run was quite busy, therefore quite slow. But that just meant we didn't have to wait at the various 'timing points', and arrive Scurvy Central 03:23. I arrive home after a 48 min ride. Some time in the future I'll have to race this guy. Without telling him of course.