Bicycling at Night

(The title is meant to conjure the R.E.M. song Gardening at Night, but it might be a bit of a stretch.)

I love riding my bike home at night. I usually love riding my bike in general (except for the times when I think I'm about to be run down by a taxi or tram or other bicyclists, but when I'm in a quiet, non-traffic area, things are good), but at night it gets especially wonderful. I don't know why, but it seems easier to bike at night. Maybe it's just in my head, or maybe it's because the traffic is less or the air is cooler, but I seem to be able to go faster with less effort and everything just glides along so easily. One thing I like about biking is that you get to hear and smell things that you wouldn't if you were in a tram or bus, and this seems to be intensified at night. The cars going next to you seem louder, you notice the smell of the canal water more, you can smell the cigarette someone walking down the sidewalk is smoking... There are these extra sensory bits, but mostly I notice how easy it feels to pedal along. Up a hill over some water, no problem, and a long glide down the other side, just slightly shifting from side to side to navigate through a curve, the wind cooling me off, welcoming on a warmer night... I love it most when I start getting closer to home and the streets I use get smaller and smaller, so they're quieter and quieter. Then there's a bit of bike path that was recently repaved, it's so smooth. All there is there is the sound of my pedals going round and round and the occasional crunchy "fffht... fffht... fffhtfffht" when I happen to roll over the leaves that decided it was time for fall to start and dropped from their tree. And then I coast at the end of the path to weave between some poles blocking off the bike path to cars, and it gets even quieter, just the sound of the rubber of my tires gripping the pavement and pushing me along, and it's darker there so I can actually see a bit of glow from the weak, little clip-on light I have. Unfortunately I'm only a fair-weather bicyclist, so this isn't something I will be able to enjoy for much longer, but tomorrow is meant to be warm (still!) and I'm going out at night, not far from home, so I'll get to have that lovely, little ride past all the sleeping houses, slipping through the night air and coasting home.