Nightrider
So I decided today would be a good day to try riding to work. Given that its Sunday I figured traffic wouldn't be that bad. Now, it didn't seem like that bad of an idea and I had flirted with the idea of riding my bike to work for a few weeks now and have slowly acquired items to help me, like tail lights, head lights, good cold weather gloves, and a balaclava.
So I set out at 11 at 10:40 or so and it was nice and balmy at about 40 degrees. I had my wicking under layer with my cornell pull over as a top and my bike shorts with "whoosy" sweat pants, the vinyl kind, like wind breaker type of material. Got to work at well I have no idea but by the time I got changed and showered it was 11:40. So its not a terribly long commute probably on the 30 minute side of things.
Now it was a pretty easy ride out, traffic was pretty light. But scary none-the-less. The hardest part of my journey is riding out to the W&OD trail. Once I get there its cake. But until I get there I have to deal with Loudoun County parkway which is 6 lanes across with a speed limit of 45 with most cars going about 55-60. During a sunday morning it was easy, not too many cars, the light at Waxpool wasn't even that bad since I didn't even have to stop.
So getting there wasn't too bad. Getting back was a different story. I left work at like 9:45 or so. Oddly enough my risk of deer strike is surprisingly high. Almost ran into about 6 deer riding on the W&OD to Loudoun County. But once on Loudoun County things got scary again, because well you become more attentive to the idea that "maybe this person doesnt' see me" as you see the headlights round to your back. You can only pray that between your blinker and 16 Watts of front headlight illumination gives them enough of a sight to see you. Though personally I think a person is more visible at night with lights than during the day, its still scary as hell.
So still kind of scary, weather is something that is easily dealt with. I guess I'll have to think about some more...
So I set out at 11 at 10:40 or so and it was nice and balmy at about 40 degrees. I had my wicking under layer with my cornell pull over as a top and my bike shorts with "whoosy" sweat pants, the vinyl kind, like wind breaker type of material. Got to work at well I have no idea but by the time I got changed and showered it was 11:40. So its not a terribly long commute probably on the 30 minute side of things.
Now it was a pretty easy ride out, traffic was pretty light. But scary none-the-less. The hardest part of my journey is riding out to the W&OD trail. Once I get there its cake. But until I get there I have to deal with Loudoun County parkway which is 6 lanes across with a speed limit of 45 with most cars going about 55-60. During a sunday morning it was easy, not too many cars, the light at Waxpool wasn't even that bad since I didn't even have to stop.
So getting there wasn't too bad. Getting back was a different story. I left work at like 9:45 or so. Oddly enough my risk of deer strike is surprisingly high. Almost ran into about 6 deer riding on the W&OD to Loudoun County. But once on Loudoun County things got scary again, because well you become more attentive to the idea that "maybe this person doesnt' see me" as you see the headlights round to your back. You can only pray that between your blinker and 16 Watts of front headlight illumination gives them enough of a sight to see you. Though personally I think a person is more visible at night with lights than during the day, its still scary as hell.
So still kind of scary, weather is something that is easily dealt with. I guess I'll have to think about some more...