Night riding

[melaniesuzanne]

Tonight's commute was my first planned ride in the dark and it was pretty darn awesome (and safe, thanks to my new headlight and the nearly fluorescent jacket Hubbyfink got me). The sun was just setting as I left the campus and the trees at the corner of Waxpool and Smiths Switch were ablaze in shades of reds and oranges. I spotted three does grazing next to the trees. Thankfully, they left me alone and I returned the favor. Traffic wasn't any worse than any other day and I felt pretty comfortable while on the surface streets. I actually felt safer in the dark than I did in this morning's fog.

As soon as I hit the trail and was surrounded by trees, the temperature dropped noticeably. Interestingly, when I crossed the Loudoun County Parkway overpass, the air temperature shot back up and then dropped again on the other side of the street.

I've never been on the trail at night and it was fun seeing the lit-up backyards of the houses along the trail. So pretty. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's commute and Wednesday's and maybe Thursday's (if it's not raining) and so on and so forth.

Comments

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

That sounds lovely! (I envy you your ability to commute by bicycle :-D)

[melaniesuzanne.livejournal.com]

I wish everybody could do this. It's so relaxing aside from watching out for cars, wildlife, other cyclists, and pedestrians. ;)