Night

I decided to go for a long, but not very difficult ride after work, meaning no hills. So I cyled along the rail high speed line and the canal basically. With the right equipment when it is dark, this is not a problem. I have a quite strong headlight with which I can ride even if there is no street light. The 5€ decathlon one will not do. And even if there is street light in the countryside I'd recommend a really strong light. I got a B+M Ixon Pure with 30 Lux that lasts for about 5-6 hours.


Starting out towards the rail high speed line more or less the "usual way" with some variations. Already here the strong headlight pays off. It's completely dark. As soon as I am out of the city and on the bike path or the canal I usually wear headphones. It gets a bit boring otherwise in the darkness. "Fear of the dark" by Iron Maiden is definitely the right soundtrack.

In Veltem, I thought continuing all the way to Leuven and then along the canal was a bit too much and I'd rather make a shortcut along some "fietsknooppunten". However, when looking at the track now, I am not sure if this was a real shortcut. Anyway, the knooppunten are a fine thing.

at the Tildonk lock at the Canal

Arriving at the canal, I realised how awful this can be at night. With nothing around but darkness and a completely straight road ahead the lights at the distance seemed not to come nearer. Stupid. 

Back to Brussels via the good cyclingpath along Haachtsesteenweg. I passed the cycle passion store which looked like a decent bike shop. Got to pay them a visit one day.