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30 Posts
Hi folks,
Last night my other half told me—politely but firmly—that she's putting her foot down about me continuing my bike commute as the days get shorter and the evenings get darker. She wanted me to call it quits till spring as of last night, but I somehow convinced her to "let me" keep riding until the middle of the month. I was kicking myself as she said this, after having apparently jinxed myself by thinking earlier in the day about much I was happy to still be commuting by bike and looking forward to doing so through the fall and winter.
Last year I got away with continuing to ride through the fall and winter (as long as the roads were dry) by simply being my stubborn self and not listening to her when she had asked—a little less firmly—that I stop. Last night I kept hoping she would crack a grin and say she was kidding, but I think she's serious this time.
I woke up this morning thinking about coming up with some way to reverse her decision, beyond stubbornly continuing to ride past the October 15th "deadline" she set last night. She knows all the arguments I could probably give in my favor, and they still don't inspire enough of her confidence in my safety. I've got lights, reflective stickers on my bike and big reflective patches on my bag, and though I could get more lights and stickers and wear more obnoxiously reflective clothing, I still don't know that they'd help to change her mind. "It's the other drivers I don't trust, not you," she's said before. And I don't disagree—there's not a whole lot I can do about improving their skills beyond doing everything I can to be visible to them, and too often that isn't enough.
I'll probably just go along with what she wants, as much as it disappoints me. The evening time spent riding home will be good time to get back to the gym, after my eight+ month hiatus. It's still bittersweet.
So, my questions to you are...
Are any of you planning to commute through the fall and winter?
Have you encountered resistance from spouses or significant others against your plans to do so?
Have their fears about the hazards of nighttime commuting come ever true for any of you? (I hope not!)
If you do commute year round—without anyone in your life objecting to it—do you genuinely feel that riding in the evening during the fall/winter is as "more dangerous" as everybody says it's supposed to be?
Last night my other half told me—politely but firmly—that she's putting her foot down about me continuing my bike commute as the days get shorter and the evenings get darker. She wanted me to call it quits till spring as of last night, but I somehow convinced her to "let me" keep riding until the middle of the month. I was kicking myself as she said this, after having apparently jinxed myself by thinking earlier in the day about much I was happy to still be commuting by bike and looking forward to doing so through the fall and winter.
Last year I got away with continuing to ride through the fall and winter (as long as the roads were dry) by simply being my stubborn self and not listening to her when she had asked—a little less firmly—that I stop. Last night I kept hoping she would crack a grin and say she was kidding, but I think she's serious this time.
I woke up this morning thinking about coming up with some way to reverse her decision, beyond stubbornly continuing to ride past the October 15th "deadline" she set last night. She knows all the arguments I could probably give in my favor, and they still don't inspire enough of her confidence in my safety. I've got lights, reflective stickers on my bike and big reflective patches on my bag, and though I could get more lights and stickers and wear more obnoxiously reflective clothing, I still don't know that they'd help to change her mind. "It's the other drivers I don't trust, not you," she's said before. And I don't disagree—there's not a whole lot I can do about improving their skills beyond doing everything I can to be visible to them, and too often that isn't enough.
I'll probably just go along with what she wants, as much as it disappoints me. The evening time spent riding home will be good time to get back to the gym, after my eight+ month hiatus. It's still bittersweet.
So, my questions to you are...
Are any of you planning to commute through the fall and winter?
Have you encountered resistance from spouses or significant others against your plans to do so?
Have their fears about the hazards of nighttime commuting come ever true for any of you? (I hope not!)
If you do commute year round—without anyone in your life objecting to it—do you genuinely feel that riding in the evening during the fall/winter is as "more dangerous" as everybody says it's supposed to be?