Cycling in the Dark

[katieastrophe]

Cycling 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.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

"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"

I hope you were suitably dressed and illuminated so that other road users could see you....

And if you're going to ride in the centre of a narrow winding country road - all too many of which have barely enough room for 2 cars to pass each other - it's you're lookout if an oncoming motorist coming round the next bend hits you.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, we know anonymous is a cager. They want you to wear a special costume so they don't have to look where they're going; and they're under the mistaken impression that you can somehow be surprised, out in the country at night, if a car comes around a bend.

I like riding in the wee hours of the morning, especially if it's a moonlit night.

[damerell]

Oh, the irony. The second anon is me.

[katieastrophe]

The point of riding in the centre of the road is that my light illuminates the road instead of the hedgerow, meaning that a) I can see motorists coming, and b) motorists can see me, thus meaning I can move to the left should a vehicle approach.

(And yes, I was wearing reflective clothing, and I thought the mention of the headlight implied that I was "suitably illuminated".)

Thank you for preaching to me about what I should wear anyway. (I wonder if you'd do the same to any other group of people, or if this post weren't about cycling.) And anonymously too! How brave.

[skibbley]

Beautiful. Reminds me of cycling in the South West down country lanes, hills dropping away into darkness.