LittleBigMan

When do you ride? What time of day, day of week, etc.?

Is there any safety advantage to riding at certain times of day, or days of the week/year?

Cycliste

Mostly AM during week-day, that's when I have the time. Later in winter cause of light and temperature.
Very early AM from spring to fall is my favorite if I can get the courage to get up that early. The world is yours and probably the safest.

Week-ends vary but above mentioned crack of dawn rule applies.

I'd avoid riding right before sunset, especially in winter when the sun blinds drivers. Better wait till sun is down.

Fridays after 4 pm is probably when DUI peaks most during day time, combined with increased end of week traffic, make me prefer other evenings.

noisebeam

I ride weekdays 6:30-7:30am and 4:30-5:30pm. There is even a big difference between 4pm and 5pm traffic and agressiveness. As traffic becomes denser the agressive drivers take more risks (like passing on the right on multilane roads) Morning is better to. I don't think I have ever been honked/yelled at during the AM commute and get it near daily on the PM one.

Weekends 6am-3pm usually plus random times for errands. Any weekend time before 11am is usually the least agressive of any time/day of week.

Al

buzzman

I use my bike pretty much around the clock. Though I avoid riding unfamiliar roads or doing recreational road rides after dark. As far as commuting/transportation I ride sometimes quite late at night or very early in the morning. I love riding when the streets are empty or when the bike path is solely my own. I've ridden some popular MUP's (like The Cape Cod rail trail) in the middle of the night and it was fantastic. No worry of drunk drivers, had really bright lights, beautiful weather- can't be beat. I fear drunks or the sleepless super late at night or early AM when on the road.

When planning long tours or trips I avoid auto traffic commuting hours (unless I'm going against the heavy flow of traffic) and find Sunday mornings between 7am and noon to be really great times to ride on the road and lousy times to ride on bike paths and MUP's, especially if the weather is good. Very early in the morning on secondary roads on the fourth of July can be great (though one time I was flying along wondering why noone was on the road and came around a corner right into the teeth of a huge parade) late afternoon and evening on Fourth of July, Halloween & New Year's Eve are NOT good times to ride.

genec

During the summer months I mix it up with the commuting motorists... that is not my favorite time of day, due to the heavy traffic and the single minded nature of the drivers.

During the winter months (due to lighting shortage, not bad weather) I ride for a couple hours in the middle of the day... but I work longer into the dark evening to make up the time. That ride is quite nice, but is limited by time.

Weekends are ridable all the time... and early mornings are best, as motorists tend to sleep in (grin) so the roads can be pretty clear then.

Superbowl Sunday is the best day to ride... right during the game... the roads are wide open. But, be home before the game finishes... lest all the drunks in the world get on the road with you still there.

By the same token holidays are also nice... Thanksgiving day, early, Christmas day, both are very nice for long rides.

Da Tinker

Either full daylight or full dark. The twilight times are more difficult to be seen in. Avoid peak traffic, when possible. Avoid the drunks.

This is for pleasure rides, of course. Commuting & untility rides take place when they have to.

Early morning rides are nice, since traffic & WIND is lower.

here and there

My usual ride is along a nice long MUP, which then merges with street traffic, a nice 22 mile loop. Weekdays I like to ride there in the early am, between 7 and 9 as there is not a lot of traffic on the MUP or on the street. Plus, I can avoid the annoying winds that develop later in the day. If I can't go in the morning, I go after in the afternoon after lunch. Not a lot of traffic either, but annoying winds. I ride this route 3 times a week. During summer I may ditch the after lunch ride and avoid peak crowds. Since there is more light in the summer, I may be able to get in a ride in the late afternoon/early evening when the crowds thin out.

On the weekends I try and go out to explore new places. I do this on the weekends because there is a lot less traffic on the streets, I have more time, and I don't like riding on MUP's with a lot of foot traffic. I start around 7 am and am home by 10. If my younger brother wants to ride with me, we'll head to the MUP again starting around 7am and finishing by 9 to avoid the late morning crowd.

caloso

Definitely try to avoid just before sunset. Or if you can't, try to change your route to avoid riding into the sun as much as you can.

I also try to avoid elementary schools on the morning commute. I'd rather ride through the bar district at 2am than a school zone at 7:45am.

GGDub

A-freakin-men! I ride through a school zone every morning and it can be the diciest part of my ride. Two many SUV's with moms and dads screaming at their kids. As for me, I try to avoid riding in the pitch-dark in the morning during winter. I come down and extremely icy/snowy path (think bobsleigh run) and I've found that even my powerfull lights make distinguishing the snow and ice features difficult. That being said, if I've got to be in early then I just deal with it.

noisebeam

I used to have an AM commute that took me thru a residential street school zone 15mph. Crazy.
Worst part was that the choice was to ride in a BL with no speed bumps and with 4 heavily used right turns with inattentive parents turing in driveways to drop of kids off or in the primary lane with these hard rubber type speed bumps that look like steps in side profile, much like riding over a curb, painful even at 10mph out of the saddle.

Al

cc_rider

Cool weather, warm part of the day. Hot weather, cool part of the day.

This time of year, weekend mid-days.
As the weather warms and the days are longer, I go for earlier morning starts.
In summer I'll try for a 6:30 to 7:30 am start, or a late ride starting around 6:00 pm. And will try for one or two weekday rides along with the weekends.

Seldom ride at night, but I sometimes like to start before sunrise and watch the dawn come up.

Not an issue of safety. Just when I have time to ride.

DataJunkie

Anytime that I am awake is open for cycling. The latest I have ridden this winter is 9:00 pm and the earliest 3:45 am (problems sleeping). Overall, I prefer night cycling. My eyes are very sensitive to light even with sunglasses.

genec

Amen to after dark riding... gotta admit when I lived in a much older neighborhood, with lots of side and back streets, that it was a real blast to go out between 10PM and 1AM and ride. No lights, and could see and hear autos for blocks away. Riding around in the middle of the night with the moon and some streetlights was just a blast...

These days I live sandwiched between high speed boulevards... when the sun goes down, the mall and business lights couple with all the fast moving headlights and riding after dark is just not a good option.

sbhikes

I usually ride from 7:15AM to 8:00AM, and 5:15PM to 6:00PM give or take an hour on weekdays. On weekends I'll ride sometime during the day after 9 or 10 and before 4, but usually I go hiking.

ken cummings

Commuting runs from 6:30 to 8:30AM and 3:00 to 6:30PM depending on the job assignment. For fun when it is warm(+50) and sunny. If friends are along +40 and cloudy or better. Early Sunday morning seems to be the safest. The most fun for me (an adrenaline junkie) is rush hour around sunset. My lights are strong enough to command a place in traffic and I get to blast past cars. Riding legal freeway shoulders is good too when it is not wet.

Roody

I ride any time, day or night, but not often in the early morning because I'm sleeping. I commute to work at 3:00 PM and home at 11:30 PM.

Safest time? I think possibly late morning and early afternoon. Also very late night, like after midnight. But I don't have any qualms about other times. Cagers who drive at rush hour are often better drivers, because they drive often, but they get a little harried or hurried in the traffic, and so do, I'm afraid.

DataJunkie

Ooops. Forgot something.

With my route and consequently my personal experiences riding that route, I find riding in the early morning 5:00 am to be the safest. However, blinkies and a decent light help in that assesment. Early afternoon ranks second.

sbhikes

Oh, I didn't answer about the safest time. I guess that's the answer to "why do you want to know what time of day I ride."

That's actually a tough question for me to answer. When there is no traffic you might think that is safer. But I'm a woman, so I prefer there to be lots of people around. Otherwise it doesn't feel very safe to me at all. I would not want to have a flat when the only people out are alcoholics, drug addicts, ******* and murders.

It's not very safe when the sun is in people's eyes. Unfortunately that is when I ride a good portion of the year. Directly into the sun morning and night. That is one reason I'm grateful for bike lanes. I know that being in the direct path of a motorist with the sun in their eyes isn't a good idea when they can't really see anything smaller than a bus, or anything that can't illuminate the glare with bright tail lights. Those LED lights can be pretty bright out of the package but they aren't bright enough to compete with the glare of the sun.

oboeguy

If I'm working / commuting, morning and evening during the week. These days (not strictly working -- last throes of student life) while it's still cold I ride later in the day (why not?). On weekends I tend to go for a ride in the morning so I have the rest of the day ahead of me to get things done. If it's cold, well, I'll warm-up when I get back. As it gets warmer I expect to be riding mornings most days.

San Rensho 

Morning, noon and night. I try to get around on the bikes as much as possible. I get up in the morning and ride the 3 speed to buy a paper. A few times a week, I ride the road bike 17-25 miles, and at night, I usually ride the 3 spd to the store for groceries, its about 5 minutes away and I like to buy what I'm going to eat that night.

1fluffhead

My favorite time to ride is after 11 pm. I feel like I own the road because there are little or no cars out and I can rip up and down the city streets.

Kurzweil

sbhikes, I had no idea that freeway riding was legal ANYWHERE in the country. Of course, on car-locked lanes; why not? We have them in Georgia, of course, but absolutely forbotten for any sub 40 mph or non-powered vehicle. Interesting.

noisebeam

Freeways are in some places in Arizona (and the West in general) the only way to get between towns. A few links:
advocacy: https://list.massbike.org/archive/199709/0037.html
Arizona: https://www.azbikeclub.com/interst.html
California: https://www.cabobike.org/touring/freeway.htm

Al

FMFBMX

All Day and All Night. Seriously. Wake up in the afternoon ride all day and night get home the next day in the afternoon. Repeat.

ghettocruiser

I've been sailing right into the setting sun on the way home these last few nights. Not good, very bad visibility to the guys coming up behing me. I've been using my MTB a fair bit so I can work more off-street miles in.