12 March 2012

Tales from the Commute

I actually saw another cyclist out on the trail during this morning’s commute.

He wasn’t hard to see, he was wearing so much reflective material he was lit up like a Christmas tree. What he didn’t have, however, was any lights. Thanks to the daylight savings time change on Sunday, it is dark at 5:30 AM, and will remain so for quite a while.

I can’t imagine riding without any light sources when it is that dark – especially when the majority of the commute is out on the prairie, where there is no ambient light sources, such as street lights. Just to see how bad it is, I covered up my light with my hand. Thanks to the waning moon, I could barely make out the edges of the trail. I couldn’t do that, I have a tendency to let my imagination carry me away – I see every strange shadow initially as a wild animal (there has been cougar sightings in the foothills above EM in years past) or some creeper looking to attack me.

Creeper!

As I rode past him, he commented on how fast (comparatively speaking) I was going. Well, yeah, I can see where I am going, I’m not riding by Braille, going slow so I can feel the edge of the trail before I ride off of it.

Still, it was nice to see another bike making the commute this morning.

1 comment:

Chris said...

Once I was riding a bike path at night and my light died on me. It was really dark, and I nearly rode off the edge of the trail a couple of times.
I was on my folding bike though, so once I got to the road, I just took the bus home with my bike - no sense riding in traffic at night with no lights!