my Fenix BC21R light did not last through this ride, although I left it on the charger and it *should* have been topped off. they claim 33 hrs of illumination at the lowest setting (where I generally leave it)

not sure what's up with that. the battery shouldn't be toast, it's practically brand new.

lesson learned: get a spare 18650 and carry it with me on rides longer than 3 hrs. better safe than sorry.

there was at least one dog in attendance, in the cohort I rode out with from Cambridge. her name was Dolly and she was totally blissed out in her fleece backpack on her rider's back

It would be fun to time-lapse the whole ride, but my action camera was acting up and would not stay powered on, with plenty of juice left in the external battery.

Either the connector is on the fritz, or (more likely) there *must* be some residual charge in the on-board battery for stable operation. I know the on-board was close to empty when I started the ride. I dunno, maybe there's a steady drain or something. I got enough footage to grab some stills and clips at least, and that's all I really want.

Vibes at the start line were good, too. The 'canonical' departure from the starting line is at midnight, but people begin the route from 6 PM onwards. Lots of cheers from the descending crowd for those who are grinding out the final climb to the start point.

a sample of the vibes of riding in the shadow of the house trailer

The Midnight Marathon also sets a new record for my longest ride: 53.93 mi from my home to the starting line and from there to the finish line (i.e. not counting the short trip home from there).

The previous longest ride was to Concord at 50.99 mi.

The stars of the Midnight Marathon for me were definitely this couple on a tandem with a speaker trailer, blasting house music the whole way through (much of it by Ben Böhmer). Great fun to ride in their sonic shadow and I stayed near them for most of the whole return leg.

When I left the start line I was chasing a group with a sound system¹ in search of riding tunes, but I ended up passing them, and a few others. Eventually I caught up to the trailer and the surrounding pack, which had immaculate vibes and was going about ~12 mph which was a just-right pace for me.

¹ they might have been SCUL members, actually? they were all riding Contraptions. I don't see anything in the SCUL mission logs but I believe that not all rides get logged. I asked someone in the know. (Edit: yes, there was an unofficial cohort)

I'm happy to report that cork and Titebond II wood glue seem to work perfectly well together

this geometry is not amenable to clamping, though, nothing really for it except to glue it and then apply pressure by-hand for 30 minutes or so. the glue seems to cure well enough by then to be left alone