Midnight Saddles

**Steve O** · 07-10-2019, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by Sunyata

GAH. Why do you always schedule these when I am going to be out of town?!

Why do you always go out of town?
Also, this ride now coordinated with a really cool other event which is not scheduled while you are in town. See updated post.

**Smitty2k1** · 07-10-2019, 03:02 PM

After ghosting on the Lotus ride maybe I can make this

**ChristoB50** · 07-10-2019, 04:24 PM

If I did my UTC to EDT conversion correctly {per Wikipedia info available} then if you all pressed your pedals forward to roll out at precisely 10:56:15 that night, you'd coincide exactly with the 50-years-mark, down to the second, from the moment Neil set his foot on the lunar surface...

**Steve O** · 07-10-2019, 11:43 PM

Originally Posted by ChristoB50

If I did my UTC to EDT conversion correctly {per Wikipedia info available} then if you all pressed your pedals forward to roll out at precisely 10:56:15 that night, you'd coincide exactly with the 50-years-mark, down to the second, from the moment Neil set his foot on the lunar surface...

What might be more appropriate is if we came to a stop sign and that is exactly when we all put our foot down.

**Steve O** · 07-16-2019, 10:11 AM

Hello night owls,

Well, this Midnight Saddles ride promises to be a memorable one, given its auspicious timing to coincide with the Apollo 11 50th anniversary.

Updates:

I plan to go to the Air & Space Museum earlier in the evening, maybe around 8pm, to see some of their special exhibits. The Museum will be open until 2am! Feel free to join me there.
Details about events at the Air & Space are here. Trivia at 8:30!

Make sure you arrive in time to see the 10:30 viewing of "Go for the Moon," which will be shown on big screens at 12th St. on the National Mall. Behind the screens will be the projection of the Saturn V rocket on the Washington Monument.

We roll from the Hirshhorn after the show ends (at 10:56 pm). Part of our route takes us in front of the Washington Monument again, for a photo op.
Here's the route: https://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/2598040255. It's about 14 miles.

Our destination is the DC Cafe near 21st & P NW, DuPont Circle area.

See you there!!!

**AliasXIII** · 07-16-2019, 10:36 AM

I choose to go on this ride. I choose to go on this ride on this Saturday, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are fun.

**ginacico** · 07-19-2019, 11:53 PM

For those hoping to see the "Apollo 11: Go for the Moon" show Saturday night... We went tonight and found it quite easy.

You definitely want to be in the designated zone behind the screens to get the full effect of the show. At 8:30 there was no problem finding a spot on the grass between 9th and 12th. By 9:00 it had started to fill up. By showtime at 9:30 people had squeezed into all the vacant spots, but everyone was fairly polite. If you don't get a spot there, you can still see the projection on the Washington Monument from just about anywhere.

I was afraid we'd all be standing and jockeying to see, but magically at T-2 people started yelling and everyone sat down in the grass. I've literally never seen such a thing in DC, and still can't believe it happened.

Also, we walked right in with our bikes and laid them down next to us, and saw others do the same. Nobody cared. I was too afraid to lock mine up out of sight.

We found the Air & Space museum closed (at least the door we tried) and the Smithsonian tents outside quiet, I guess they're daytime exhibits.

People cleared out and there was plenty of space before the 10:30 show. Clearly some people were going to stick around and watch again. 15th and other streets that were blocked off to cars were really nice for bikes, but avoiding all the pedestrians is the challenge.

Go... it was worth it!

**Starduster** · 07-20-2019, 01:21 AM

I have been assured that Air & Space will be open tomorrow night- a friend volunteers there, and has the 10pm-midnight shift where Armstrong's restored space suit is displayed.

Gina, thank you. This gives me confidence that I can pull off my *Papillon Goes to the Moon (sorta)* Ride Saturday. (Including inflight rendezvous with Midnight Saddles)