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Old 05-20-17, 06:02 PM
  #10  
canklecat
Me duelen las nalgas
 
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Location: Texas
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Bikes: Centurion Ironman, Trek 5900, Univega Via Carisma, Globe Carmel

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In daylight I notice two types of cyclists first:
  • Those wearing hi-vis yellow.
  • Those using lights.
Those folks are a notch above everyone else in visibility. Nothing else comes close, not even the hi-vis orange I sometimes wear. Even in murky overcast daylight or at dusk that hi-vis yellow pops against more backgrounds than any other color.

And lights are almost as good in daylight. The main limitation is most lights that are practical for bicycling have a limited range of view. They all tend to be somewhat directional. I use a Cygolite Hotshot SL-50 on my main bike and while it's bright enough to be visible in daylight, it's only visible directly behind me. It falls off very quickly to the sides. That's the characteristic of lights that concentrate the beam with reflectors and lenses. My Blackburn rear helmet light is less bright, around 30 lumens, but more visible from the sides because Blackburn doesn't use reflectors and lenses to concentrate the light -- just a white background and plain protective transparent shields. Different design philosophy, not necessarily better or worse. The Cygolite design packs a lot of punch directly behind the rider, which theoretically should nudge a tailgating driver to the side.

About a month ago I noticed some folks on a tandem a few hundred yards ahead of me on a murky late afternoon. First thing I noticed was their flashing red taillight. Then I could discern it was a tandem because there was never any variation in the positions of the two heads I could make out at a distance.

They took a breather at the crest of a long hill and I caught up with them there to say hi. They said they saw me behind them because I was running a flashing white front light (a modest 255 lumen Serfas SL-255). I was impressed that they could see it at that distance, behind them, in daylight. My other to-be-seen light is a 300 lumen peak flasher on my helmet, but I wasn't running it that day. I save it for heavy traffic and nighttime.

More recently, about a week ago, I met a fellow who rides some of the same rural routes I do. Nice fellow, slowed down to chat a moment before he headed on -- he's much faster than I am, averaging 16 mph or more even on century rides on windy days. I struggle to average 14 mph on 20-40 mile rides.

After he passed I noticed how quickly he blended into the surroundings. He usually wears black and white kit. You'd think that sort of contrast would pop, but it doesn't. In the elongated shadows of the late afternoon sun his kit was more like camouflage against the blacktop. I saw him again a few days ago, passing perpendicularly at an intersection about 100 yards away. He was readily visible from the side view, in a bright swath of sunlight. But by the time I'd turned and was going his direction he was a couple hundred yards ahead. I had to squint to make him out, and mostly saw only his head. His black and white kit was again blending into the surroundings -- sunny day, late afternoon, deep shadows and pools of sunlight against blacktop intermingled with whitish gray concrete.

I don't know the fellow well enough to mention that I'm concerned about his visibility. But I've thought about suggesting he add some bright flashers for daylight rides. I'm pretty sure I saw lights on his bike but they weren't running in daylight.
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