Panter
Just call me Chris...
- Location
- Sittingbourne, Kent
Yup, huge performance boost, free of charge.
Just add darkness
I'm very lucky on my commute, I even posted some pictures recently of how nice it was as my route weaves it's way over the North Downs on desolate country lanes.
However, they're a very different animal come nightfall.
I woke up at 3:00am and try as I might, I couldn't get back to sleep.
So, around 4:30 I got up and got my bits together to ride to work.
My whole commute generally heads gently upwards on the way in but there are a few short, sharpish climbs.
There's one in particular I've always struggled with, it's only a few hundred yards long but kicks upwards pretty steeply after half a mile or so of gentler climbing.
Approximately halfway up there's an old layby and I use this as a point to take a break, gasp in some oxygen and have a drink before completing the rest of it.
It's normally very nice, flanked by heavy tree cover, there are squirrels darting about, birds singing and it's all very nice
However, in the dead of night it's a very different story.
My lights picked a narrow tunnel through gnarly, skeletal trees and I could feel my heartrate quicken above what it should be even on that climb.
As I breathlessly approached the layby, I'd already decided there was no way in hell I was stopping and was going straight for the top.
At about that point, an Owl screeched in my ear which startled a fox which started screaming. This distracted the herd of Deer (unseen by me) on my other side in the trees which then bolted as they spotted my wheezing carcasse passing by.
Faced with such a sudden assault on my already heightend senses, I put on a sprint that Mr Armstrong himself would've been proud of and practically wheelied over the top of the hill
So there you go, instant power boost, just add one coward and nightfall........
Just add darkness
I'm very lucky on my commute, I even posted some pictures recently of how nice it was as my route weaves it's way over the North Downs on desolate country lanes.
However, they're a very different animal come nightfall.
I woke up at 3:00am and try as I might, I couldn't get back to sleep.
So, around 4:30 I got up and got my bits together to ride to work.
My whole commute generally heads gently upwards on the way in but there are a few short, sharpish climbs.
There's one in particular I've always struggled with, it's only a few hundred yards long but kicks upwards pretty steeply after half a mile or so of gentler climbing.
Approximately halfway up there's an old layby and I use this as a point to take a break, gasp in some oxygen and have a drink before completing the rest of it.
It's normally very nice, flanked by heavy tree cover, there are squirrels darting about, birds singing and it's all very nice
However, in the dead of night it's a very different story.
My lights picked a narrow tunnel through gnarly, skeletal trees and I could feel my heartrate quicken above what it should be even on that climb.
As I breathlessly approached the layby, I'd already decided there was no way in hell I was stopping and was going straight for the top.
At about that point, an Owl screeched in my ear which startled a fox which started screaming. This distracted the herd of Deer (unseen by me) on my other side in the trees which then bolted as they spotted my wheezing carcasse passing by.
Faced with such a sudden assault on my already heightend senses, I put on a sprint that Mr Armstrong himself would've been proud of and practically wheelied over the top of the hill
So there you go, instant power boost, just add one coward and nightfall........
I really didn't want it to end. The missus might worry if I failled to get home by midnight and call mountain rescue
