velotel
11-24-2011, 02:06 PM
That's what I call my usual evening ride. An out and back. I don't ride it every day but almost every week after working on the house or in the garden. Two, three times a week. Maybe 48 weeks out of the year. Some years more, depends on snow and ice on the road. Twilight rides with the days so short now. I never tire of it, not even after 17 years. It's not long, maybe an hour total, depending on which version I ride. Has some of everything, spinning, climbing, high speed descents, lots of carving. One version has a short but brutal pitch, at a guess minimum 20%. Another option, a double track through a field. Which version depends on how I feel. Always an interesting perspective on my form. Every sortie is different.
Like this evening. Left late, back light flashing, front light flashing, to be sure drivers saw me. The road I could see. A hundred meters from the house and I was in fog. A light fog, more a thick mist, swirling up through the forest. A small climb and I'm out of it. Over the hill and I can see the valley filled with fog, the plateau right at the limit. Sometimes in, sometimes out. A hill here, a headland there poking out like rocks in the sea. The valley floor, 750 meters below, lost in the fog.
Down a hill and back into the gray. Another climb and the fog's left behind. Mt Blanc pink in a distant blue sky. Turn around, head back, front light on high beam to see the road. Back I fly down the hill, into the fog, out of it, playing tag. Less fog now, darker, only a rim of light in the west lingering behind. Beautiful! I never get tired of this ride.
I imagine lots of you have something similar, the go to ride when all you want/need to do is get out for a quick spin. Something from the house and back. An old friend. Always there.
Shot some pics a couple of evenings ago. On the way out, not enough light on the return. The white mountain in the distance in a couple of pics is Mont Blanc. The Belledonne mountains are across the valley, the mountain of Alpe d'Huez just visible in a notch in one of the shots. They're sequential, from close in to out towards the end. This is what I look at from my daily.
Like this evening. Left late, back light flashing, front light flashing, to be sure drivers saw me. The road I could see. A hundred meters from the house and I was in fog. A light fog, more a thick mist, swirling up through the forest. A small climb and I'm out of it. Over the hill and I can see the valley filled with fog, the plateau right at the limit. Sometimes in, sometimes out. A hill here, a headland there poking out like rocks in the sea. The valley floor, 750 meters below, lost in the fog.
Down a hill and back into the gray. Another climb and the fog's left behind. Mt Blanc pink in a distant blue sky. Turn around, head back, front light on high beam to see the road. Back I fly down the hill, into the fog, out of it, playing tag. Less fog now, darker, only a rim of light in the west lingering behind. Beautiful! I never get tired of this ride.
I imagine lots of you have something similar, the go to ride when all you want/need to do is get out for a quick spin. Something from the house and back. An old friend. Always there.
Shot some pics a couple of evenings ago. On the way out, not enough light on the return. The white mountain in the distance in a couple of pics is Mont Blanc. The Belledonne mountains are across the valley, the mountain of Alpe d'Huez just visible in a notch in one of the shots. They're sequential, from close in to out towards the end. This is what I look at from my daily.