Three in a row

Today, for the first time I can remember in a long time I have made three consecutive days of bike commuting. We're in the middle of some sort of freakish almost heat wave (low 50s) so last night and this morning I rode with my coat in the left basket.

Last night I took a longish detour from my normal ride to have dinner with some friends at Kooper's in Fell's Point. The place was a weekly destination for many of the people in my MPH program last year because of their half-price burgers on Tuesday nights. The other bit of significance for fans of Homicide (the show, not act) is that Kooper's is across the street from the Homicide station house and now houses the case board from the show. After dinner we had some gelato at a nifty little place and then I rode home. It was my first opportunity to test out the new lights in actual darkness rather than just dim.

The first part of the ride was extremely dark, since I had parked at a friend's house and headed right up the alley (unlit) rather than going out to the street. I now know that the lights I have work great into very low light, but if I was having to do any distance in a totally unlit area, like I used to in CA when I rode along the edge of a shipping company lot in Alameda at 4:30 AM, I would probably need a second front light to get better visibility. I might be able to change out the light I have for something with more punch. If I move somewhere that I am either commuting significantly earlier/later or on unlit trails I'll have to look into it.