Creatures of the Night

As others are noticing, summer is slowly ending and darkness is descending earlier and earlier each day. Today I spent most of the daylight hours working on a difficult photo shoot (nothing to do with bikes) that in the end may or may not have been successful. Let me tell you... even if you love photography, it can be frustrating. Spontaneous pictures are fun, but when you have to get something just so or the whole project is no good, and there is a timeline, and you are working with medium format film photography... well, it can get just a tad stressful. I got home after dark and with every fiber of my body felt that I had to ride the Gazelle to clear my head. So I rode in slow motion to a cafe, drank coffee while staring out the window, and rode back. I felt better.

The bottle dynamo lighting on the Gazelle is not the brightest, but for now I think it will do. And I like the soothing, barely audible swishing/hissing/whistling sound that the bottle makes as it rubs the tire. Riding along and listening to it, I feel such a direct connection between myself and the light that illuminates the road. That's me, making light with my feet... how nice that is.  (And when such thoughts run through my mind, I know that I must be tired!)

From a more practical perspective, I will eventually need to either supplement the existing dynamo with LED lights, or upgrade to a stronger system. I have been considering the Dymotec 6. Any experiences with it or suggestions for alternatives? Autumn is coming, and increasingly this bicycle will become a creature of the night. Just imagine the tire sidewall singing this to the dynamo bottle...

Posted in: Gazelle, lights, loop frame, night time cycling