Safety In Lights

This morning was warmer; was a bit overdressed on the bike - but pitch dark as usual. A and I missed the bunch by about 30 seconds (around 300-400 metres). It was a really big bunch of riders this morning, and since they weren't so far ahead we thought it would be a snip to catch them. Problem was, my light is about as good as the light from my watch - no, worse, and Alex only has a ruby red light on the back (he'd given his to his sister for the Mugg & Bean MTB 24 hour thing). So, as any sensible cyclist does riding on a pitch dark road, you slow down a bit.

It took us a good 10-15km to close down that 30 second gap. Probably the gap got bigger because around corners we couldn't even see them. What made it hard was I have been PROPERLY sick and my heart rate was telling me so. So this was the day for a heroic chase. We took a short cut and still the bunch flew around the corner 100 metres ahead of us. Jeepers! Also, this morning the wind was blowing unusually strong - I felt it especially on the long drag where we finally caught the bunch. Once in the bunch it felt - suddenly - absurdly slow, and easy. What gives?

The moral of the story (there always is one isn't there ;-) is that without lights, life becomes a LOT tougher. A lot tougher than you can imagine. The folks in New Orleans have a month to learn that lesson. Here in South Africa we've learned that in fits and starts. But get this - when the lights go out you're dealing with a whole different order of magnitude of life out there. It's a different universe requiring a lot of schlepp, a lot of effort. You don't want to find yourself in that position. Coal prices, I read yesterday in FM (not FHM ;-), waiting on a couch for my movie to start are around $163 from about $60 a year ago. What do you think the world uses to get its electricity?

Nice to have an early start to Friday. Will try to be at work before 7:30am so I can leave early.

This morning's stats:
Time - 1:29:24
HR - 152 avg/172 max
Distance - 40.4km
Avg speed - 26.8km/h (max 59.5km/h)
Altitude average - 1566masl
Temp - 8min, 10 av, 28 max
Ascent - 375m
KCal - 1528

Was good to end this morning's ride in the light. The last couple of months have meant getting up in the dark, riding in the dark, and arriving home in the dark. With Spring here now, that's changing.