Night riding at work

Working a swing shift schedule has it's good and bad effects on my riding. It does allow me for more riding time than most but a majority of that is by myself or with my dogs. During the winter alot of my friends don't have the option to ride during daylight hours except on the weekends. So there tends to be several group night rides throughout the week. I don't mind riding at night but if I had my choice I would definitely pick the day light hours as my riding time of choice. While I do enjoy riding during the daytime I do miss out on the companionship and fun of riding with a group of my buddies. This weekend I am working nights and while I need to sleep a good portion of the day it's sometimes hard to get out and ride before going into work. We do have several bikes at work that take alot of abuse and get neglected, sometimes I wonder why they let the bikes get in such bad shape with all the emphasis our company puts on safety. I doubt you'll find a bike in our quiver that doesn't have something wrong with it. Bent wheels, broken pedals, flat tires and gripless handlebars are the norm at my job. I still enjoy riding around the plant as much as possible. Although it's not as peaceful as singletrack snaking through the woods and sometimes the smells can make you hold your breath I still enjoy the ride.
Last Friday night was no exception, I needed to run some samples to a lab at the other end of the plant and it was dark and freezing outside but I decided to ride instead of taking the truck.




No lycra to be found here and instead of a fancy bike helmet I swapped it out for a hard hat. I did have a head lamp though but it was a 5 watt halogen running on AA's, no lithium ions.



My faithful steed for the evening. A steel singlespeed Schwinn cruiser, complete with a bent basket on the front perfect for loading wrenches, drums of oil or whatever is necessary for the job.
I can't complain I would much rather be doing this job than holed up in some cubicle staring at a computer screen all day.

Adios