Night Ride: Why Do I Do it? 10:35pm Saturday night, I have just finished putting my cycling clothes through the speedy cycle to take away the sweat, insect repellent and mud from tonight's ride. Good ride. Great ride. Fantastic ride! I was out for 2:20:00, climbed 2000ft and traversed 32Km of pavement and mostly really washed out gravel road (?). All of this was done in the dark and my trusty light that has served me so faithfully over the past four years did it's job, in spite of it being tired and old, once again for me. We have a partnership, the light and I do. I feed it energy and let it do its thing while it, in turn allows me to experience the world in more ways than most people ever will. My bike ran perfectly, no rough gears, and the Moxey suspension was as smooth as butter and as wonderful as a slice of extra-sharp cheddar cheese on a big piece of warm apple pie. Last year when I had more free time from work I rode the "Behind Hageyama" route three times a week at least (more in the summer). This year with the work schedule I can only get out on the bike once a week: Saturday. Usually I am out with a friend who lives in another prefecture so we meet halfway and ride from there. That does not include this ride. We have never done it together. Since I can only ride on Saturdays now I haven't been up this route since early spring of this year. Tonight we were supposed to do it together but at the last minute my friend called, saying he was not feeling well, and cancelled. So, being the stubborn person that I am, rather than give up all together I got ready and did it alone. And ever-so-glad I am that I did go out. Had I given up, I would have lost my one day of stress-release, my one moment of "satori", my one instant of heavenly solitude away from the worries of the busy world. I feel my stress more this year because I can't get out more often. I need more for the body and especially for the mind. It helps me to think clearly, sleep better and generally feel in tune with myself. Do you know what else night runs (and day runs) do? They increase the eye strength by forcing one to focus on a larger field of vision, things near and far. Especially at night this is true when the eyes are working really hard to discern rocks, ruts, tree stumps, bears, etc. The computer tires the eyes out but cycling strengthens them up again, giving them energy. So I went up, deep into the mountains, constantly wondering about giant spiders, werebears, vampires, falling to my death and other such exciting thoughts that creep in unexpectedly. Of course I was concentrating on the ride and I did notice that the road is considerably worse for wear this year (due to the rain?). It makes for more technical and more interesting riding. Even alone it is worth more than gold, so much more. The light has gotten a bit weak after three years of use. It is tired, getting old. When new it had 4.5hrs of run time on low beam but tonight I just barely scraped out 2hrs. I rode the last leg home in "candle light" and it was a "nice" effect if not particularly bright. The juice ran out when I arrived back home. Why do I ride at night, you may ask yourself, when there is so much more to see in the daytime? In the summer here, it is too hot to ride in the daytime, the biting flies are horrendous, the humidity drags you down. At night it is a little cooler; not so energy zapping. The bugs are gone and so are the head-induced after-ride headaches. Night time allows you to see the scenery from a very different perspective; what was, in the daytime, a long, steep climb becomes something that seems to pull you along. A strenuous ride in the day is exhilarating while a strenuous ride at night is calming and soothing, almost as if time had been spent in meditation. And in a way it has; alone with yourself and your thoughts, nothing else to distract you. That is why I ride at night. Try riding, walking, hiking, swimming, any sport at night and see what I mean. It really feels quite different. You can do the same routine on the same route and the results will be entirely different at night because you are using more of your senses. Well, having given my clothes a bath (the bicycle will be washed in the sunlight tomorrow) I feel the need to clean myself up as well, have a quick bite to eat and then turn in for the night, so I bid you adieu. Cam Tonight's ride was inspired by a good e-pal, named Amelia. Thanks Am! |