Originally Posted by
wipekitty
Many of us in the Northern Hemisphere are now experiencing quite a bit of darkness: where I live, we are now under 10 hours between sunrise and sunset.
So, tell us about your adventures in the dark! Are you still riding and walking? Where did you go - for transportation or for fun? Pictures of bikes in the dark are always welcome as well!
My Adventure in Darkness tonight was a short (9 mile) ride from work on some paved trails and through an industrial area, with a stop to pick up a few pounds of coffee for the household. I left work two hours after sunset, so it was good and dark. It was dry today and the temperature was right around freezing, so it was actually kind of a nice night to ride!
My town recently installed a bicycle/pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks, making it easier to ride from one part of town to the other. I decided to stop for a photo:
I use that all the time since it's just about a mile and a half from me. Since I have no car it saves me a lot of time and mileage. In fact I will be using it on Friday to take a kitten I found on Halloween to the vet.
Later this month when they are supposed to finish all of the highway construction I heard there is going to be a straight shot down Rose St. to Onalaska which I wish was done now because it would cut a good mile and a half at least from my trip to the vet.
I used to do a walk over that bridge before it was officially dedicated and I carried a weighted metal cane that has 2 AA flashlights attached to it and a point at the end for walking on ice. I didn't need the cane but it was nice to carry in case I met up with a stray big dog or somebody who decided they could give an old duffer a hard time. I was right in the middle of the bridge when a big headlight was coming at me--a biker dude on a Harley. I stood in the middle to make him stop and told him he had to turn around. At first he said "no" but in the semi-dark he saw my cane and wasn't sure what it was and amazingly he turned his bike around which took a couple of moves to do it since he couldn't just do a u-turn. My thought when he left was relief and then how could I have been that stupid. Fortunately I never saw him again.