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the first ride of October
... With 9 hours on the road and some (possibly over)estimated
80 km covered, this one was certainly more interesting than the last two rides of September (both around 4 hours and 25 km, respectively.) Observation: riding through the forest well past the sunset (happened at 5:17 into the trip) takes one to be clothed, fed, and having a flashlight. Carrying a compass won't hurt, either. Now, I had my winter jacket on, and while it was perhaps a tad too warm during the day, it proved to be quite appropriate at night. (I also had a vest in the backpack, which I take with me virtually always, even for midsummer rides, as I seem to tolerate hot better than cold. I haven't used it this time.) Surely, I also had my usual 500 g of rye bread; at about 230 kcal per 100 g claimed, that's nearly half my recommended daily intake anyway. (That is, for the days I have my usual amount of physical activity. Riding 80 km a day is most certainly /anything but./) And were I not to have my 3 W headlight, with up to 10 watt hours stored in the rechargeable cells (nominally; I'm using these cells for years, so I gather their capacity can be lower now; not to mention that they do seem to perform poorer in the cold weather), I would've chosen a route through the suburbs. Then, I'd be able to reach the lit streets sooner, but that would've added perhaps a hour to the trip duration. ... No points for guessing which instrument I /did/ forget home. So, I choose to travel along the rail line for some time, and then rode into the forest proper -- which happened to be much earlier than I've planned. The road was twisty enough so I had to check which part of the sky was brighter at the time, giving me West, which I've then tried to keep at about 7 o'clock as my intended direction was NNE. Soon enough, I've crossed a clearing in the woods that I've recognized instantly and which confirmed that I'm on the right way (although indeed much closer to the segment's starting point than I thought.) At another time, I took a wrong turn, and got to the river (along which, at some distance, the intended road goes), so I had to travel back to road. Yet again, I recognized the place, and understood my general location. Then, there was a much anticipated glade (where I was treated to the sight of a starry sky, even if I've failed to find Polaris somehow), and a summer camp, the road along the side of which should've taken me to a bridge over a lesser river. So, I've left the camp behind, and after some time... I've finally found myself travelling /along/ that river and /away/ from the bridge! Had to backtrack yet again. Finally, there was a lit street, dark forest, some more lit streets, some more dark forest, and finally, the city proper. And that's about all I can now say about the importance of a compass. PS. A minor observation as well: while not moving, the water vapor exhaled easily obscures the view. May be specific to the spectrum of the light emitted by the headlight, though. And, obviously, the cold of October's night. -- FSF associate member #7257 http://am-1.org/~ivan/ 7D17 4A59 6A21 3D97 6DDB |
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