The roads hadn't dried much from yesterday's rain. In shaded places they stay wet for weeks in this weather. I had given the briefest thought to riding the Black Sheep, but I had the correct bike for the conditions - the Surly.
I half intended this as an easy ride, longer but no more intense than two short rides I had done on the trainer earlier this week. The setting sun gave me a bit of surprise - so early? I guess I haven't settled in to this time zone. I picked up the pace a bit, steady but not extreme, and starting estimating time till sunset and time remaining on the ride.
The sun set into a low bank of clouds before I made the turn at Dry Drayton, but I got a break when it re-appeared for a few minutes below the clouds and above the horizon as I pedalled the gradual descent into Toft. I reached back to switch on my rear flashing light as I turned east, confident that I had just about the right amount of light remaining for the distance back to Cambridge.
I used the famous (in our family) trick I learned from Gus and Sam: sunglasses. When on a ride that might extend into dusk, wear sunglasses. As visibility seems to drop, removing the sunglasses gives an extra ten or fifteen minutes of 'enhanced' daylight. I suspected as I cleaned the sunglasses before the ride that I might need to use this trick, and I smiled to think of Gus or Sam racing down one of the steep Boulder roads toward home as the daylight faded.
I did have lights, rear and front, which Gus or Sam never had. But of course I rode in traffic, while they often descended narrow trails. And in my case, removing my sunglasses also removes my vision correction, a problem they (knock wood) don't have. Tonight, good timing improved by a bit of effort, and the sunglass trick, got me back into Cambridge as the streetlights came on. Then I turned on my front light as well, to make myself more visible to the city traffic. Not a bad ride.
