Took a night ride last night, first night ride of the year. A little more than 20ish miles, there-and-back-again on mostly bike trails from home to the Walmart on the highway then back home again. The dynamo-hub-powered Busch & Müller Lumotec IQ Cyo Premium (bit of a mouthful, that) headlight worked admirably as always. This light and the Shimano DH-3N72 dynamo hub that powers it are perhaps the best bike-related things I’ve ever bought, the pair being second only to the bike itself.
The legs felt strong and good the whole ride. Finally to the point in the year where a 20-miler is pretty easy, though the speed was slow.
At one point I saw a leaf on the ground that looked like giant pickle. It reminded me that I haven’t had a pickle for a long time which led to me having an intense craving for pickle juice. I think there should be pickle-flavored Gatorade, how refreshing would that be?! ?PICKLE POWER!! ?
Saw what I suspect was Jupiter, very bright in the sky. Haven’t kept up with astronomy lately so forgot to check the visible planet schedule. The planet was so remarkably bright at first I thought it was an aircraft, then perhaps a satellite flare but it remained in position throughout the ride.
Saw the first fireflies of the year on the west side of Holmes lake dam. Nice spread of them, twinkling like a galaxy of little stars in the grass. Later, on the ride back, I got hit by some kind of giant flying beetle on the west side of Holmes lake dam, which scared me straight out of any poetic notions of galaxies or stars or grass.
I really like night riding in general, it’s cooler than the day, there’s generally less traffic and it’s quiet and peaceful. Having a good set of dynamo-powered lights means not having to worry about battery charge levels and such, I can just get my bike, top off the tires with some air, ABC-Quick-Check then go. Maybe later this week I’ll do a night-time gravel ride to Conestoga lake, that’s always a nice ride. Especially when that one train always haunts me on the ride back.