Night Study

It’s a week night. Work is finished for the day but the sedentariness, excessive caffeine and stress linger like an unwanted fog. I’m restless. Too tired to stay awake but too jittery to sleep. I force myself out of my chair, put on a few layers of clothing to keep the cold out, lube the chain on my road bike, attach my lights and throw myself out the door. It’ll be a werewolf run through the city tonight.

For this small missive, I’ve compiled a collection of visual curios to capture some of the delights and oddities one can be gifted via a night on the bike. I’m absolutely a fan of this sort of thing and have done several other after-dark jaunts off road (and I’ve included some of those too) but this one focuses more heavily on the various spaces, moods and places that the Brisbane city and suburbs bring after dark – the well known spots that are transformed by night, the nooks, the crannies, the wee, small droplets of light in the blackness that straddle sleep and consciousness. As many times as I do this, it still feels like flying through outer space or maybe just another dimension. Are those wheels really touching the ground?

I’m thoroughly amateur as a photographer though. Some are grainy, some are clearer and many are just lucky shots; taken on a rag-tag collection of phone camera, cheap action cam and whatever rear mounted safety cam I happen to have strapped to my seatpost at the time. Sometimes, the Gimp does some tweaks after the fact. Mostly, I love the grain and fuzz though. It captures the mood – the ironic sleepiness of it while, simultaneously, my legs pump my heart into a fervor.

Some shots are new and some have been on this site for an eon. Keep an eye on this page if this sort of thing pleases you as I’ll be updating this gallery whenever I stumble upon new and interesting moments in time.

It’s about 10:00pm when I roll up to my front door and my rear hub ticks its final tick for the night. There’s just enough energy left to shower before sleeping.

Ride safe and see you out there sometime.