A Bicycle Commute in the Dark
Today was the first day I commuted to my new job. The commute by bicycle to Fennimore (12 miles) was not too difficult, however, my new job is another 5 miles distance from my home, so the commute by bike now takes a little more effort.
I started out this morning at 6:40 while the sun was still coming up. It felt good to be back on the bicycle after so many weeks out of the saddle. While biking to work, I try to take it easy, so it was not surprising when I later found that the trip took me an hour. The route I decided to bicycle this morning was the most direct route, but it is also more challenging than my commute to Fennimore. But I had my blinky LED lights and was off.
I had just picked up a new headlight from the shop last week. I chose a Beamer 5 (5 LED light that mounts to your handle bars) because I had been using a Beamer (one LED light) in the past and found it very reliable. The reason for going with the five and not one LED was, of coarse, the brightness. The Beamer 5 is significantly brighter than the Beamer or Beamer 3. I will use it a few more times and then report on it.
Only a couple miles out of Lancaster and I was passed by Brad, who helps out in his wife and daughter’s bakery and coffee shop in Fennimore. He slowed, gave a little honk, waved a fond farewell and sped off towards Platteville. I will miss many people in Fennimore and Brad and his family are definitely among them. It was nice to see him and I pondered for a moment all those who i would not be seeing as often.
The bicycle ride went on and I finally came into Platteville. For the first time I carried my bike up the two flights of stares to my office and changed for the day.
The bicycle ride home was a rude awakening to my commuting to Platteville by bike. By the time I left the office at nearly 4:30, the sun had set and the sky was already getting dark. Pink clouds lingered in the western sky and I was ready for a commute home in the dark, or was I?
The first part of the ride went fine, I challenged myself on a few hills and found that I was not feeling as chipper as I had been just a month ago. I eased up on the ride knowing full well I had a challenging ride home still ahead of me. I had decided to take a county road home and knew full well that in order to get home I had to ride up quite a few small hills as well as a few not so small ones. A few miles away from the turn off that would take me north to Lancaster I was struggling and felt more like diverting south to Potosi for a beer at the brewery, but I knew full well, that would only lend to my agony later. I finally turned north and progressed slowly in an exhausted haze. I climbed each hill slower than the one before, “How many hills were there on this road?” was the main thought that filled my mind followed by thoughts of the food I would eat when I arived. It felt like I was pulling the bike up the hills not rolling up. I had hit the wall.
I was shaking and the headlight from my bike lurched in a dance that would make Elaine Bennis proud (Seinfield fans know what I mean). Lancaster seemed far away and i was not making much headway. It took determination just to stay pedaling. It seemed a long time before the lights and homes of town came into view. Even then, I wanted to pull over and just stop. When I reached home, I ate anything. My hands were shaking violently for half an hour while I put a pizza in the oven and ate a tortilla with cheese. Not the gourmet meal I dreamed of while riding home on the bike, in the dark, for two hours.