Monday, November 6, 2017

Night Ride

Local loops, rectangles, whatever you want to call them ha ha! Midweek ride in the dark, 16 miles with 1,345 ft of gain. Riding up to 24th street 3 times. Second two times were to 17th street to avoid traffic and parked cars.

Nice little ride to spin up the legs during the week. Strange but I'd rather ride when it's dark vs day. Actually kind of glad the time changed. Makes it easier to ride in the evening.

Plus, I get nothing but courtesy from the traffic out there. Sometimes too nice ha ha! Like when you hit a stop sign and you want a 3 second breather but they wave you on ha ha!


Adding this in: Things I like about riding at night! :-P

1) I have shorts with a good comfy chamois that seemed to wear thin before the chamois life was up. I can wear these shorts at night since I wear tights over them so nobody has to see my crack ha ha!

2) Air is crisp, cool, and refreshing!

3) I feel like I am well seen by drivers having 2 rear blinkies (one on helmet, one on seatpost), 2 headlights, and tri color ankle bands that I think really help as far as being seen from the side.

4) I can tell when cars are coming up behind me. Kind of a comfortable feeling knowing how far they are behind you judging them by their lights.

5) Low traffic once above Baseline. Traffic really thins out and there are only very few traveling the road at night.

6) Very quiet. Only one or two people at the parks vs 50 screaming kids when it's daylight ha ha!

7) Flying down Euclid at 30 MPH, cars see my bright lights and actually wait for long periods of time to let me pass. Not sure if they have a hard time judging just how far I am and my speed, maybe not knowing what kind of vehicle is approaching, they seem to wait for me to go by. I always wave as a thank you. Versus the day time drivers that see you coming but figure they can beat you crossing before you arrive. I think the lights throw them off so they wait longer which is a big plus for my safety.

8) For my own entertainment, I like to mess with the heads of the people walking on the sidewalks ha ha! In some areas it is very dark and because it is quiet, I don't think most of the walkers out there hear of expect me as I come up behind them. So when I see one, I like to sway my handlebars so that my lights sway back and forth across their backs. They seem to get very uneasy as if they think someone is running up behind them with a light. Some seem to tense up like they're expecting to get whacked with a stick or something ha ha! I think they're relieved to discover it's just a bike coming up behind them. I did it once on accident and saw the reaction so now I do it on purpose just to mess with their heads ha ha! Just a little something to get my head off the climbing he he he!

9) Because I ride up into the foothills of Baldy, there are plenty of beautiful housed and mansions. At night I can see inside some of the homes as I ride by. Big windows, lit up inside, and some nice setups. Nice sights except that it reminds me of how poor I really am ha ha!


Know how hard it is to get a selfie climbing a 5% grade with a cell phone, they suck ha ha!



Yeah it's dark out here! Looking down on my lights.


Let there be light!


Nice peaceful quiet ride.



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