Last night I left the house at 5:45. It was dark! I never bothered to call anyone else so I was on my own. I Have been planning on going by myself for a awhile and just never really made it happen. I always found a partner. Weather I want to admit it or not, the woods are dark!
Not that I am scared of the dark, it's what's in the dark that you can't see that you "think" is gonna get you? That's what I am scared of !! From the reactions I get from people when they find out we ride at night, let's me know I am not the only person who feels this way. I am just willing to admit it!
Anyhow I don't seem to ride by myself as much in the winter. I have been trying to work on being more courageous but it's been a process. I started this summer with my golf course walks. I would go later in the evening and time it so I would be at the farthest point from the parking lot when it was getting dark. That way I would have to walk back to the car at least a mile in the dark.
Then I started working my way back to the car using the really dark nature trails. I had the dog with me so I figured she would hear the "evil" or sense "it" before "it" could get to us! My plan was to run really fast!
If your not laughing yet you need to read between the lines. I am a 46 year old man and I have a 46 pound dog walking with me in the dark woods all under the pretense that she is gonna hear the Boogie Man before I do. So we can run really fast! The funny thing is growing up I had a paper route and I went out every Saturday and Sunday before the sun came up and delivered news papers.
All in the city!!
Yet now I am out in the country and I am scared of the dark. You would think you would be safer in the dark out in the country woods than cutting through the back side of a shopping center at 5am! As a kid I used to love being out so early and watching things start up. I didn't even use a light I swear my eyes were used to the dark. Plus I had street lights to help.
Anyhow the thing I noticed back during the summer was the fact the dog never acted any different! Of course she being a dog she could see better than I could but she didn't act any different. She never acted like any thing was any different, if it was dark or still daylight. She acted the same and we always made it back alive.
So far I have ridden with my buddies a few times and I have went a few times by myself. The first time I went solo I did one lap and chickened out on a second lap! I was at one of our shorter trails so I was never to far from the lot. The other night I went and timed it so I was about halfway done and had to finish in the dark. I was at Rocky River Trail that time.
It's way down in the country and very dark! But I made it! Well last night I went and rode a lap at Rocky River all by myself! As I said in the very first paragraph I didn't leave the house till 5:45, it was already dark when I left. I got there and parked, got ready and headed in the woods. I knew I could at least ride the first section down by the river and if I got scared I could just go back to the parking lot.
I made it and for some reason felt really "calm", not sure why but that is about the best word I can think of to describe how I felt. I finally excepted the fact it was dark and I have ridden that trail a hundred times by myself in the daylight and nothing ever happened. "Dark" was not gonna be any different!
I slid across the field and started the second section and that's when it kinda hit me, I was riding at night in the dark and I had a smile on my face. I had just ridden the section down by the river where you are right along the bank and nothing had come over the bank and got me!
I ended up riding the whole trail and only got spooked one time. I startled something in a bush and the noise "whatever it" made scared me. But only for a second, then I realized I had probably scared "it" as bad as "it" scared me. I had a great ride and it was a great night.
I am gonna win the battle of the darkness!!
Pretty funny!
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