Lately I've been biking whenever possible for Mustachian reasons: to save money, increase badassity, reduce my reliance on fossil fuels, among others. I actually want to go carless, and I believe I will within the next month.
Well, Friday night I biked
20 kilometres to my sister's house - it was a dark and rainy night (sounds like the beginning of a good story, doesn't it?). My family kind of thought I was crazy for doing so. I was a little hessitant to do it too, as it was my first time biking there, but I figured if I could bike it on a rainy night with a 30 lb bag (filled with beer and dry clothes) on my back, I could do it anytime!
Then I biked home last night just as it was starting to get dark (8:45pm), which again alarmed them due to it being at night and on a weekend, so there are more likely to be drunk drivers on the road causing a ruckus.
I have two flashing LED lights on my bike - visibility should not be an issue. I may also pickup a reflector vest for night biking. The most dangerous part of the ride is definitely Kearney Lake Road (as seen in the map linked above). The bike lanes on that road are still a work in progress, and the speed limit is 80 KM/H in spots. The other option is to take Hammonds Plains road, but that road is very curvy with lots of entry/exit points off of it, and an even less consistent bike lane presence.
So, am I crazy? Would you guys/gals bike that route at night? On a weekend? The summer is coming to an end and the daylight disappearing with it, so there's an increasing likelihood I will be biking there at night. Should I just avoid the weekends? I'm of course frustrated my sister chose such an anti-Mustachian place to live, but I'm just trying to make the best of it for me, and the planet.