bring on the night

it felt good to get out of the city for a moment. especially after a few interactions with some cars. nothing serious just some "you-go...no-you-go" type exchanges, and one zoom-ahead-and-turn-right, ordeal...

i finally got to the bike path which takes me away from the streets for about a mile and a half. the path was completely dark this night, and i could see it lingering at the end of the street. the evening was itself pretty dark, but not as dark as it should have been. the clouds were covering the moon and stars for the most part, but the light pollution was reflecting off the lower clouds to make the air feel somewhat luminescent. it was already this way when i left work, so it was already as dark as it was going to be. it didn't seem very dark until i got out of the local light pollution of yellows and turned off onto the path.

the bike path turns off into basically nothing, at least it feels that way. there are no lights no cars no bikes, just a dark entry through a chain linked fence. as soon as i turn off into the abyss the trail goes down hill in a very long straight line with a couple of bumps that kind of break things up a bit. towards the bottom of the hill lies a bridge that kicks off the first turn. the cool part about the bridge is that the shadows from the bridge change the color of the path to look like a bottomless gap breaking through the concrete. as i approach the "gap" i get this mild sensation that i am going to ride off the edge into the nothing .... but just as i get closer and realize it's just a shadow i suddenly notice that the color of the bridge itself, is making it look like there is another gap to fall into. that part is really cool... so much cooler than riding it in the day light.

a little while later, the bike path meanders along the river. now it's even darker, because the trees along the river are blocking any remaining lights from the moon or the pollution. as soon as the trail gets close to the river it turns really sharply. so sharp that the head light doesn't give me enough look-ahead distance because it's pointing off to the tangent of the curve. as i look ahead, all i can see is the leaf covered ground that kind of goes through the trees. it's really difficult to tell the exact curve of the trail, with or with out proper lighting. luckily i have some beta from past rides and i kind of know where the trail goes, but it just a hint. i try to do it faster and faster each day, but just as i get to the third s-turn i get really nervous and squeeze the breaks as much as i can without locking the wheels. it was really exciting when the trail had a little bit of snow on it, and the tires would lock pretty easily.

everyday it's been like this and everyday, i look forward to riding home.

this is why i ride