Night ride

NOTE: Hover over the photos with your cursor to read captions, y'all.

Worked my first day at the This Week on Martha's Vineyard on Sunday. Biked six miles to the office in Edgartown and started at 10 a.m. It was an awesome day -- the editor and his staff are all cool and laid-back. I did a variety of tasks -- editing my two stories (should be online soon), finding pull quotes in articles, writing sub-headlines and info boxes, cropping a photo of me that'll run as my headshot with every article (woo!), and putting together a big, long calendar. Unfortunately the paper doesn't go into full-force as a weekly until June 18. This first issue was just a teaser to get people ready for our rockin' seasonal paper.


The adventure part of the day came on my ride home. I stayed at the paper until 9 at night; just long enough for it to be completely dark. I wasn't worried since I'd gotten new reflectors and a tune-up on my bike that morning, but I didn't anticipate miles of pitch black with no streetlights whatsoever. I walked my bike for a long while before getting super bored. I started to ride tentatively, knowing that the tiniest, dumbest twig or pothole would send me flying, put my helmet to the test and strew delicious chicken fingers all over my backpack.

Photo over the cove/lake thing on my left of the causeway. This was with the shutter open for 15 seconds.

What started out as a nervous affair eventually became a blast. I went for a half-hour without seeing any man-made lights. Cars passed occasionally and I'd try to memorize the road, making sure it was clear, and then gun it at top speed in the wake of each car's light. When I got to the several-mile-long causeway (reminds me of the long bridges between the Florida Keys, sort of), it was absolutely silent except for smooth waves and cackling sea-birds. Lighthouses were beaming on my left and right horizons and the dunes and vegetation all morphed into weird, shapes. Surprising my imagination would act up on a long night ride alone? Not at all.

Made it home safe. Went down to the water and took a short video (video used loosely -- it's me talking and you seeing nothing) somewhere in the middle in case I didn't get to jot down any details about the excursion. I might utilize video entries independently at some point, but for now have this reheated account of the tale -- just moments after you read all about it!




More about Vineyard life and the Islanders themselves soon. Aiming to do some actual interviews and journalism-type writing here as long as my days stay this commitment free.

Lastly, I'd be doing you a huge disservice if I didn't direct you here. Nothing to do with Vineyard life, but it'll make your day. And I did see it for the first time while I was here, so maybe it's sorta relevant...