Riding at night

The days grow shorter, bit by bit, everyday after July 21st. This Thursday marked the first time all season that dusk greeted me as I went about closing down Bicycles East. Nicole had called earlier asking if I needed a ride.

"Of course not!" I said, a bit insulted. "I rode to work and I'm riding home."

"Okay," she said. "But there is rain in the forecast tonight."

"Oh." I said. "Well if it rains, I'll call you."

The rain held off, so needless to say I didn't call Nicole. At 5 after 8, I was turning off the lights at Bicycles East getting ready to ride home--alone--when I heard a voice.

"Oh yeah, you wanna look like a U.F.O. out there."

Nate was commenting on Nicole's 500 candlepower Cateye headlight. She quietly and nonchalantly rode in, hoping the rain would hold of so we could ride together!

In a moment of privacy though, Nicole voiced her concerns.

"I'm already tired," she said. "How am I going to do this trip?"

"You're tired because you worked a long day, not from riding your bike."

"Yeah, well, we'll see." She remained unconvinced.

I'll start out slowly, I thought to myself, as we ride home. Nicole had probably pushed herself on the way here, I reasoned. I figured a nice leisurely pace back home would leave everybody feeling swell.

This relatively slow pace (about 10 miles per hour) didn't last long. As dusk turned to nightfall, sporadic raindrops interrupted my plan for a leisurely ride. I wondered to myself how I could appropriately ask to Nicole if we could pick up the pace.

Fortunately I didn't have to.

"Can we go any faster." she asked with urgency, "I don't want to get wet!"

Fair enough. Like a horse out of the gate, we both pedaled hard, closer to our usual 15 mph. The few and far between droplets of rain increased to a drizzle. Words can't quite describe what it's like to see 210 lumen's of light focused on a few fleeting raindrops, other than to say it was intriguingly spectacular. All of a sudden, we didn't mind if it rained harder; it was kind of relaxing.

Aided by Manchester Road's steady descent after the Country Club, we coasted around 18 mph back to the apartment. Nicole felt a little less apprehensive after the ride.

"Don't tell anyone," she said. "But now I feel energized."

Relax darling, your secret is safe withe me. ;

We've now got four weeks to go. Crunch time.

~KM