I planned on doing an hour and half of riding this morning and didn't want to take the usual trip down McArthur Blvd, so I changed venue to the Rock Creek Park. Normally I leave the park for weekend rides or on the way back in, but this morning I thought I'd be adventurous.
I've been riding in the early morning hours for about a year or so but never have I been in such a dark place before. The park is in a ravine with cliffs on either side of it. It's like the countryside except it's in the middle of DC. It was just an area of the city where they couldn't build houses because the terrain was too steep so they turned it into a twisty and turning road that is closed to traffic some days of the week.
The natural lay of the land and the tall trees block out most of the light coming from the city, so it's pitch black most evenings. This morning was no exception. Even my helmet-mounted little lights were no match to the darkness. I'm sure it didn't hurt that I have taken to wearing orange tinted glasses for these rides. I tried going without sunglasses but ended up getting little pieces of junk in my eyes quite often that were annoying so I adopted the orange glasses.
It was an amazing ride, through this darkness. I'm looking back on it as if it was a dream. I might not have been too awake at the time so it could have been one. I'm looking for to the end of daylight savings time now and the reemergence of the sun for my rides. I typically ride for about an hour before sunrise. I'd like to get that changed so that I can go without the helmet light for a little while. Plus, it's darn cold at that time with the sun.
Curious thought of the day: Do we speak truth to power more often than power speaks to truth?
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