An Adventure in the Dark: Riding without Headlights

What do you do when you discover that your Activa’s headlight doesn’t come on, it’s past 9 and you have to make your way home through Aarey, a forest area (which our beloved government is disputing) that is not well lit, has loads of craters (read potholes), known for panther sightings and robbers.

Well firstly you take a deep breath. It’s not safe and against the rules to ride without headlights. But then what do you do when you discover the fuse and there’s no where to rectify it. You have another option but it can be painfully jammed and hard in your butt, not to forget your other parts.

So decide to risk it all, saying to yourself you can make through, just be bloody calm. The headlights that blinded you and left you fuming, is now a welcome cause thy light up the road, shinning on those pesky potholes. The air smells fresh, but then there’s a heavy feeling of fear in your heart to enjoy it.

And then comes a point where you need to take a diversion cause the bridge has weakened and traffic is being redirected. The road is not totally unfamiliar, but you just want company, to tailgate, to shine light on the way.  Few vehicles realise the situation, so there are just few taking it. 

So you have a bunch of kids riding triple seat who take a left when your instinct tells you that you need to take a right. Now you’re riding in the dark, all tensed and alert to any sound, trying to focus on the road ahead. You are familiar with the route, cause it’s your favourite running route. But then with this familiarity comes the awareness that this is the very area where panthers have been sighted.

So you have it, no headlights, in a dark forest, no much of street lights, not too good roads, inclines and declines, and panther area, total darkness, in short, balls in the mouth situation.

You try not to panic or go what the beep am I doing here, why the beep did I choose this route, why couldn’t I just come by train this morning. Today is just not your day but today is not the day I become dinner. 

Any sighting of headlights are a welcome sight, but any glowing eyes a sense of fear and dread. You keep wondering when would you see New Zealand Hostel. Familiarity of the area fills you with a sense of hyper panic. So you have to keep pep talking to yourself.

Finally when you come to New Zealand Hostel you breathe a sigh a relief, but then you realise now you have a decline to go through with very little. So once agin, breathe in and breathe out, drive slowly, you’ve got this, you’ve run on this road, so hey take it easy and you’ll make it through. 

So you go steadily down the slope, often letting gravity do it thing, trying not to panic or overshoot the road. You get that oh so familiar smell of the tabelas, which is so welcome.

Finally you make it to where there are other cars streaming from other diversions. It’s a sense of relief. You may have hated jams but not this time. You know you survived a silly risk you’ve taken. So finally you’ll be home for dinner and not as someone else’s dinner.

So there you have it, an adventure in the dark, a silly risk and panicky moments, but something you will remember for the rest of your riding life.