"Antelope by Moonlight"

"Antelope by Moonlight" is a popular, family friendly bike ride at Antelope Island State Park, in the middle of Great Salt Lake. The ride is scheduled each year on a Friday night as close to a full moon and longest-day-of-the-year as possible and starts at 10:00pm so as to be lit by the full moon.

I did this ride almost every year when I lived in Salt Lake. But since moving to Idaho eight years ago, I have only ridden this once or twice since then. I was really looking forward to the ride and having my niece Jenny join me. This year, the 24-mile route went from the Marina to the historic Fielding Garr Ranch and back. (A plus in NOT riding on the causeway is not having to smell the stench wafting off the lake.) The theme was “Midnight Madness,” and I have to admit the night got a bit "crazy" before I got to my Dad's and to bed...at 4:45am!!!!

The first thing we did when parking at the marina was to apply a heavy layer of bug spray. Didn't get one mosquito bite!! :) But they were thick. As we were driving over the causeway, it sounded like raindrops hitting my windshield...but it was mosquitoes.

To make a long story short, doing a 24-mile bike ride that starts at 10:00 p.m. you would think to be done somewhere around midnight. Add about a half-hour stop at the midway point and the drive back to Riverdale - it might even take you to 1:00 a.m. to be completely done and "home". But then if you add in three flat tires...on the same bike...on the same tire, Nathan's car woes on the drive back to Dad's (by this time it was about 2:30 a.m.) and then having to shuttle Nathan home before heading back to Dad's - well it was a crazy night. Good thing I didn't have anything scheduled for early Saturday morning.

Believe it or not, the night did go better for us than a couple of other people. As you approach the Garr Ranch there is a hill going down into the ranch. One person got going too fast and crashed head-on into another biker. The person going downhill had to be life-flighted off Antelope Island to IMC. In spite of it all, for us it was FUN ride!!! Jenny and I are planning on doing it again next year.

The ambulance and helicopter waiting to transport the injured rider to IMC :(