Cycling in the Dark
Aug. 19th, 2012 12:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katieastropheCycling in the dark, alone, is a unique experience. I've done overnight before, with damerell on the London to Brighton night ride, but going it alone is a whole different kettle of fish. I've also ridden in the city at night - well, 10pm or so - but that again is different to the countryside.
Riding alone, there's nobody to talk to, and I felt so infinitesimal. Every sound was magnified, from the wind rippling past my jacket to the owls hooting in the trees. I saw bats, and rabbits, and foxes, but no humans - none at all, for 35 minutes zipping through the night.
In the country, all the roads look the same. Single track, lined with hedges; they go on for miles and miles. None of the landmarks I had doing the route in daylight earlier in the day (twice) existed once the sun set; the cottages and the passing places and the funny looking trees all blended into the darkness.
Even with a headlight chosen specifically for this kind of cycling, I could only see 20 feet ahead of me, and I was riding in the centre of the road to get the best possible vantage of the tarmac ahead. Signposts appeared, sticking out of the the hedgerow, for less than a second, gone before I could read the lettering.
The adrenaline coursing through my veins right now is intense.
damerell on the London to Brighton night ride, but going it alone is a whole different kettle of fish. I've also ridden in the city at night - well, 10pm or so - but that again is different to the countryside.Riding alone, there's nobody to talk to, and I felt so infinitesimal. Every sound was magnified, from the wind rippling past my jacket to the owls hooting in the trees. I saw bats, and rabbits, and foxes, but no humans - none at all, for 35 minutes zipping through the night.
In the country, all the roads look the same. Single track, lined with hedges; they go on for miles and miles. None of the landmarks I had doing the route in daylight earlier in the day (twice) existed once the sun set; the cottages and the passing places and the funny looking trees all blended into the darkness.
Even with a headlight chosen specifically for this kind of cycling, I could only see 20 feet ahead of me, and I was riding in the centre of the road to get the best possible vantage of the tarmac ahead. Signposts appeared, sticking out of the the hedgerow, for less than a second, gone before I could read the lettering.
The adrenaline coursing through my veins right now is intense.
