Tag: riding in the dark

cycling · fitness · season transitions

Argh dark, but also wow fall rides: Themes from Sam’s past autumn posts

Sam B5 Comments

When you’ve been blogging for six years you notice trends. It’s September and I’m nervous about losing the evening light. I’m sad about losing some of my favorite activities. And worried about the effect of fall dark on my mood. I’m also happy about riding in the fall, cooler temperatures, no big goals, and beautiful colours.

Those are feelings now and they are also frequently the topic of fall blog posts through the years.

So the themes from my fall blog posts are:

1. September sadness:

See Struggling with September Sadness and The night is (soon to be) dark and full of terrors

You can get a sense of the flavour of fall sadness by reading this piece The Summer That Never Was. It beautifully connects end of summer melancholy with thoughts of mortality.

I suspect that the way I feel now, at summer’s end, is about how I’ll feel at the end of my life, assuming I have time and mind enough to reflect: bewildered by how unexpectedly everything turned out, regretful about all the things I didn’t get around to, clutching the handful of friends and funny stories I’ve amassed, and wondering where it all went. And I’ll probably still be evading the same truth I’m evading now: that the life I ended up with, much as I complain about it, was pretty much the one I chose. And my dissatisfactions with it are really with my own character, with my hesitation and timidity.

2. Autumn and evening dark: The pictures at the top are from the last weeknight of Snipe racing. We barely got two races in before we lost our wind and our light. It’s too dark now in the evening to make it worthwhile to start racing at 6:30. There are some weekend afternoon races but the regular Tuesday night club races are done for the season.

Last week I got caught out on my bike without headlights. I forgot how early it was getting dark now. I won’t do that again.

Partly for me it’s also about driving. Because of my eye condition, I can’t drive at night. When night comes before work ends, my life can feel pretty limited. It’s a good thing I ride my bike well into the winter. I’m also walking distance from work, downtown, and the mall.

You can read about Fuchs Dystrophy, a condition that makes driving at night tricky here, The four eyed athlete. It’s also the subject of a profile over at The Disabled Philosophers blog.

So what’s my plan?

I’ve got my bike ready to go with lights.

Sarah and I have planned a September canoe trip.

I’m going to sign up for swimming lessons.

I’m thinking about this CBC piece on end of summer sadness and the positive effect of thinking of September as a new start.

I’m going remind myself how much I love to ride in the fall by actually doing it. Because amid all the fall sadness there’s also quite a few expressions on the blog of how much I love to ride my bike.

How about you? What feelings and thoughts so you associate with fall?

cycling

“I would not, could not in the dark.” Yes, yes you can! Making riding at night fun

Sam B1 Comment

Lots of my friends who ride bikes aren’t that comfortable riding at night.

And it’s not just the night of course. More like the dark. And depending on where you live that can be 4:30 pm. Yikes.

So if you’re going to use your bike for fall/winter transportation you need to get comfortable riding once the sun goes down.

Here’s some of the things I do to make it okay…

  1. If you’re on the streets, around traffic be sure to be extra visible. Wear something super reflective. I’ve got this jacket.

2. Go for super bright lights, three of them at least. You want a solid red light at the rear and two bright lights at the front, one for your helmet and one for the front handlebar. These aren’t just to be seen they are also to see.

Why two? Why one for your helmet? You want to see where you are going to go, where you are looking. Since you won’t yet have turned your front bar light won’t be pointing there. At speed, in actual dark (as opposed to city street dark) you want a light on your helmet. Trust me. It’ll make sense once you are out there.

3. Go on a glow ride!

4. More tips

Here! “Sure, it’s dark and it’s snowy – but more and more cyclists are taking to the river valley trails each winter. Here’s 5 tips for staying safe from Women on Wheels YEG: www.cbc.ca/1.4391711

Do you ride in the dark? What tips do you have to offer?