See me

It's an odd thing this night time riding. Well, early morning riding. About half of my commute is in the dark, then dawn and some good light toward the end.
I have blinking lights and show me the road lights up front. I have lights all around my helmet, little buggers that flash away in the darkness. In the back I use 3 very bright flashers and a white see me light. It's a surreal scene and it's surreal to be in it. I look ridiculous.

I see quite a few bikers with some lights to no lights. One hearty fellow (he's the one constant as the weather takes a turn for the worse) always rides in the road next to the bike path and never has a light.

Then there are the mysterious riders who have a blazing headlight and no tail light. This puzzles me. I can understand wanting to see where you are bound. The open spaces await and who knows what they hold in waiting. On the other hand there are the spaces covered and something is always gaining on you, as the old baseball player said. Satchel? I'm not sure but I'm going with it. Satchel said never look back, something might be gaining on you. When it comes to bikers truer words have never been spoken. And it's big and weighs several tons and has a tool as a guidance system who is talking on one of those mobile phones, is half asleep and late for work.

From where I'm sitting, which, if you'll recall, is on top of something that looks as though it's straight from the Big Top, this is asking for trouble. These behemoths can travel several feet simply by the dolt in charge of them moving their steering hand an inch or two. No, a headlight only will not do. The only sane approach is to grab their attention early and make them take notice, snap them out of their personal morning fog and jar them into paying attention. Even if it makes us look ridiculous.