Reverence: Daylight Saving Time

Daylight savings means less time riding in this

Not too many people espouse the virtues of Daylight Saving Time, much less chose to write about it every bloody year. But Daylight Saving Time is my favorite day of the year, no question. Better than Christmas, Sinterklaas, or my birthday. Combined. The reason is simple: Daylight Saving is the day of the year when it becomes feasible to once again ride after work without headlights.

To be a Cyclist is to be a student of sacrifice; everything is given for the sake of becoming better at our chosen craft. We risk life and limb when we set ourselves upon the streets to take flight amongst the motor traffic like a gazelle amongst the lions. In winter, we often do this with the further risk of darkness, limiting our range of vision and our visibility to drivers who are much more likely to be texting than I care to imagine.

While there are some liberating aspects to riding and training at night, Daylight Saving Time frees us from the grip of darkness and affords us the opportunity train once again in afternoon daylight without requiring excessive amounts of Calendar Tetris in order to sneak out of the office while the sun still hangs above the horizon. From Sunday onward, it is Open Season on training and the path towards summertime fitness opens up before us.

Most crucially, Daylight Saving Time means the days lengthen enough to once again allow the afternoon training rides to become the karmic neutralizer of the daily grind. Vive la Vie Velominatus.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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frank says:

Mar 10 2015 at 10:04 am

@DeKerr

DST – originally postulated by Ben Franklin (an otherwise intelligent chap) to save candles. This makes it more archaic than wood hoops and less practical. Recent studies demonstrate that it doesn’t save energy and just generally fucks with people’s live. Good summary on the general fuckery here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/03/time-to-kill-daylight-saving/387175/

Fuck changing the clocks twice a year – fuck it into a dark place where it shall never see the light of day again.

Changing the clocks? That's your beef? Been guzzling the Anti-V, have we? All but my oven clock are connected to the interwebs and set themselves.

That said, I upgraded my router this weekend and had to reconnect all my devices to the network with my strong password. That blew the big one because many are Apple TV's and I have to enter the password via a remote.

I had understood it was actually devised to keep people at the retail stores for longer and help boost the economy.

I have an opinion on this.

Apparently so!
Teocalli says:

Mar 10 2015 at 10:18 am

@KW

There’s your thought to ponder for the day.

My commute has far less traffic in morning than the afternoon, so I’m ok with the dark in the morning.

I think there is a statistic for London along the lines of 3 Million people commute into London every morning and 2.8 Million commute out in the evening. Sweeny Todd is alive and well............
DeKerr says:

Mar 10 2015 at 10:50 am

@Teocalli

@KW

There’s your thought to ponder for the day.

My commute has far less traffic in morning than the afternoon, so I’m ok with the dark in the morning.

I think there is a statistic for London along the lines of 3 Million people commute into London every morning and 2.8 Million commute out in the evening. Sweeny Todd is alive and well…………

Ha! Love it. Lies, damn lies, and statistics... I do like the number crunching that goes along with it though.
DeKerr says:

Mar 10 2015 at 11:02 am

@frank

@DeKerr

DST – originally postulated by Ben Franklin (an otherwise intelligent chap) to save candles. This makes it more archaic than wood hoops and less practical. Recent studies demonstrate that it doesn’t save energy and just generally fucks with people’s live. Good summary on the general fuckery here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/03/time-to-kill-daylight-saving/387175/

Fuck changing the clocks twice a year – fuck it into a dark place where it shall never see the light of day again.

Changing the clocks? That’s your beef? Been guzzling the Anti-V, have we? All but my oven clock are connected to the interwebs and set themselves.

That said, I upgraded my router this weekend and had to reconnect all my devices to the network with my strong password. That blew the big one because many are Apple TV’s and I have to enter the password via a remote.

I had understood it was actually devised to keep people at the retail stores for longer and help boost the economy.

I have an opinion on this.

Apparently so!

Alas, there is nothing the interwebs can do for my circadian rhythm (and I feel your pain with the Apple remote). Also, trying to get a 6 year old out the door for her regular routine an hour earlier than her internal clock is expecting makes holding the uphill wheel of the 130lb (60kg) guy I sometimes ride with seem... less challenging.

There's no better way (that I've found) to test an assertion than to try to explain it to a 5-6 year old and see if they grasp the concept or rationale behind it. DST does not hold up.

Riding your bike fast however... she's totally grasped that concept.
VeloSix says:

Mar 10 2015 at 11:56 am

@Margarito Roten

Yes, the Tuesday Night World Championships commence tonight! As a friend observed, “today is like the first day of school”. And there will be some schooling tonight…

...one of us is not as dumb as all of us...
Ccos says:

Mar 10 2015 at 12:08 pm

@Nate

… Unless you are trying to ride before work…

A-Merckx, I f'ing hate DST as life has handed me the need to ride early in the day. Luckily, there are less drunks and crazies on the road at that time (Sunday mornings notwithstanding).
John says:

Mar 10 2015 at 12:27 pm

Spell check - Daylight Saving Time, not Savings Time. Had my first commute this morning in about 6 weeks due to the fucking sub zero temps. T'was dark, it t'was, but that 36F felt pretty damn good. And I could tell it's been 6 weeks. Turbo time just ain't the same. The V feels so good.
Rigid says:

Mar 10 2015 at 3:29 pm

How's the training going Frank? Guns of Navarone rippling? The Welli-minati have had a summer season of long rides and are now engaging in after work intensity sessions up and down burg sized hills. Should be a force to be reckoned with.. There has to be a bonus from living on the upside down side of the world - not to mention crisp tan lines
frank says:

Mar 10 2015 at 4:44 pm

@Rigid

How’s the training going Frank? Guns of Navarone rippling? The Welli-minati have had a summer season of long rides and are now engaging in after work intensity sessions up and down burg sized hills. Should be a force to be reckoned with.. There has to be a bonus from living on the upside down side of the world – not to mention crisp tan lines

Yeah, my training has been perfect assuming my goal is to spend a lot of time at the back of the bunch.
Roger says:

Mar 10 2015 at 4:56 pm

Thank god!

I have had major seasonal affective disorder this winter. it has been unbearable. Still rode through as much cold and crappy weather as I could. By the end of last season early fall I was so sick of the mountain bike so I have been riding the road bike exclusively. My MTB still sits in pieces from last season. The winter funk needs to be broken, dam it too hell, bring on the lingering light of the DST sun!