Sad but true – this past week was likely my most number of consecutive bike-commuting days ever. I’m guessing it’s about 15km each way and I did 5 days so 150 km. It’s not a record (I did a few 200+ weeks a year or two ago) but enough that I feel pretty good.

Yesterday was a fun and challenging one. It was the first day they predicted rain since coming here (I *know*! I can’t believe it hasn’t rained yet, either!). So I brought the raingear to work but really didn’t need it on the way in. While I was working, though, the skies opened up and wet the roads down and filled the irrigation ditches. In order to make it possible to take today off, though, I worked an extra-late day and finished up a little after 11:00 PM. By the time I got out it was sprinkling just a bit, with a cold damp wind from the south – my diirection back to the hotel.

It was an interesting experience riding home along the dark rural roads. I liked the sense that I was this mysterious person passing in the night while everyone was cozy in their house. While the cold didn’t bother me (I had enough gear on to keep me warm) the wind made it pretty rough and it took a lot longer to get home. But instead of like on my trip around L’Ile d’Orleans in Quebec where I was frustrated and impatient, I just found a steady and not too taxing cadence (come on! It was 11:30 and my east-coast body thought it was 2:30 AM) and made my way home. Riding at night in the country, though, is a different experience. I didn’t worry too much about being seen as I was the only thing around with *any* lights and lots of bright clothing (and really, only 3-4 cars passed me on the way – only one from behind which just to be safe, I moved off the roadway to avoid and still, as usual, I was given the entire lane) The lights I have, while OK for visibility in a busy city were a bit dim for an area with no streetlights and a cloud-obscured moon. It probably wasn’t such a bad thing that the wind prevented me from going too fast.

But enough about the mechanics of riding through the country in the night. Other than the biking itself, it was really interesting. The feel of the route was totally changed. All the smells had changed – probably in part due to the nightfall and in part due to the rain. Where there had been mostly floral smells with occasional barnyard or compost smells, the smell of vegetation overpowered. Everything smelled so green and lush. The peepers in the irrigation ditches and ponds were happy also though I only hear a little of their song over the wind. There were a couple times, though, where my inner 12 year old got the best of me. At one point, I passed an old falling down abandoned farmhouse that reminded me very much of a place we used to go on a dare when I was a kid – an abandoned house filled with destroyed books and rumours of murders, ghosts, bodies in the basement, and so forth. As I passed the old farmhouse, I remembered a couple of strange experiences of my own at that place and rode a little faster, goosebumps appearing on my arms.

Overall it’s been really good to have the bike be my only transportation (aside from a bus trip downtown to visit a friend). Without a bus pass or even being familiar enough with the system to decide to be lazy and not take the bus on some days, I’ve been quite religious about riding wherever I need to. And that has done me a great deal of good. Hopefully I can bring those habits back to Toronto with me. We’ll see how it goes – I hope to take some time off once I return and then it’ll be off to a new client and as yet I’m not 100% sure who/where that’ll be. There’s a local prospect (not far by bus but crappy roads may prevent cycling there) and of course other ones further afield. Meanwhile, I’ll just keep on riding…