Commuting - Daylight savings starts March 9

Can you believe it? -- Daylight savings time starts again next Sunday (3/9). I'm actually NOT looking forward to it for a change because my morning commute will revert back to darkness again. After months of riding to work in the dark, it finally has brightened up enough so I don't need my light to see in the mornings. On the upside, we'll have an extra hour of daylight in the afternoons.

Hold on..don't the clocks move forward? Meaning 6am will really be 7am? Meaning you'll be riding in daylight?

Hold on..don't the clocks move forward? Meaning 6am will really be 7am? Meaning you'll be riding in daylight?

OK, suppose that right now it's dark at 6:00 AM. You set your clock forward an hour. Now your clock says 7:00, but it's still dark.

Always confusing until it actually happens. Well, to me anyway, but what I do remember is that last fall I was riding home in the daylight, and then, presto-chango, my 5:30/6:PM commute required lights. I spend most of my morning commute on the bus, but I'm just happy to be riding home in daylight again, and not worrying about my lights all the time.

In my family we spend the two weeks following giving the time and the "feels like" time. "Well, it's 5:30 by the clock, but it feels like 4:30."

OK, suppose that right now it's dark at 6:00 AM. You set your clock forward an hour. Now your clock says 7:00, but it's still dark.

7am is not dark...that being said....you are closer to see'ing the sunlight.

Daylight savings means time "leaps foward" in the spring. So if you normally leave home at 6:30 am, that would be same as leaving at 5:30 am now (in terms of lightness).

Sunrise today in the DC area was 6:37. Thanks to the clock change, the sunrise next Monday will be 7:37 . Sunset will go from 6:03 to 7:03. After the clock change, when I leave the house at 6:00 AM I will face an hour and a half darkness rather than a half hour. The payback is more light on the evening commute when the crazed cagers are really out in force.

Ugh. I can't stand DST. It takes months for my body to get used to it, then it's time to switch back. DST = insomnia time for me. :(

7am is not dark...that being said....you are closer to see'ing the sunlight.

Here near the 40th Parallel, the sun will rise at 623 on March 8. It will rise at 723 on March 9, according to the US Naval Observatory (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php). According to Colorado State Law (and probably most other states), you need to have vehicle lights on until sunrise. According to common sense, you should run lights on a bike until sunrise to avoid voiding your third dimension;)

Additionally, an hour earlier in the morning is an hour colder. I hate daylight saving time in March:mad:

I love it!
I could care less if my morning commute is in darkness the whole year around.
What matters for me is my return commute. Riding early in the morning in light traffic is fine without daylight. Riding home in heavy traffic in the dark annoys me.
Plus, it enables me to have fun after work rides.
No more limiting my fun rides to 20-30 miles. I can ride the occasional 60 mile rides instead.
Then barbeque afterwards!

Now, I'll go from using the front lights in the evening to using the lights in the AM.....although the blinkies stay on year round when I'm riding, no matter what the time.

Uh, no. Spring DST = darker at a given time in the morning.

If you go in at 6AM and it's starting to get light now, next week what we now call 5AM will be the new 6AM. Which means it'll be darker when you ride in. Your 6AM leave time after the DST change is what would have been 5AM before setting the clocks ahead.

I'm all for it. I'd rather ride in the dark. Of course, I leave at 5AM so it's going to be dark either way.

It used to bother me, but I intentionally started shifting my wake/sleep pattern around, so now it doesn't really matter to me when I get up or go to sleep, as long as I get the right number of hours. Before I did that, yeah, switching by an hour would bother me.

But if it takes you months to get used to it, it's pretty much a given that you're not getting enough sleep. A recent study showed that most americans don't get enough sleep. That's not a trivial thing either; it's dangerous to not get enough sleep, both in terms of attentiveness while riding/driving and your long-term health, which is badly affected by chronic sleep deprivation.

I love it!
I could care less if my morning commute is in darkness the whole year around.
What matters for me is my return commute. Riding early in the morning in light traffic is fine without daylight. Riding home in heavy traffic in the dark annoys me.
Plus, it enables me to have fun after work rides.
No more limiting my fun rides to 20-30 miles. I can ride the occasional 60 mile rides instead.
Then barbeque afterwards!

This is how I feel.
I get to work early enough that the traffic isn't that bad, but leaving at night is all the more sketchy in the dark, so I am looking fwd to the return of DST.

Six of one, half dozen of the other. Right now I need a light to get to work (in the evening) and ride home in the morning without. After the change, it`ll be the other way around. In a month or so, I won`t need a light at all.

Yay! Spring forward! I am way too excited about the earlier spring time change. I can ride in the daylight both ways , even if I'm stuck at work. I can barbecue or mow the lawn on the weeknights. I can take walks with my wonderful wife after dinner. Yeah, way too excited. :)

It will be a little while yet before there's much change for me. I head for work a little after 5:00 AM and on a normal day I'm on the road home by 3:30 PM or so. I'm much more jazzed about Spring weather.

:love:

Ugh. I can't stand DST. It takes months for my body to get used to it, then it's time to switch back. DST = insomnia time for me. :(

+1

I don't mind the extra hour of sleep in the fall, but I hate the spring change.

I do like that it is spring though- and I actually like winter :D.

+1 more for hating DST

I have no problems commuting in the dark. What bothers me is the lack of sleep I'll be getting. My body will say "Hey, its only 9pm" when its actually 10pm. This will translate to me going to bed at midnight and having to still wake up at 5:30 in the morning.

I really liked the both way dark commutes I was having.
At least now I'll have dark a little while longer in the AM as the sun was catching up at the end of my commute.
Maybe with the earlier spring ahead I'll avoid the horrible riding off into the sunset I had last year which made it a pretty scary time to ride. Drivers blinded by sun while reading their evening news makes me feel a little less comfy on certain stretches. In the AM I miss most traffic which is good since for the first few days everyone is going to be short on sleep. In the PM I often follow folks who are reading the paper and they never have their window open so I can't ask em for the sports section :(

I don't mind. I have the lights and I've spent the whole winter riding to work with them. It's just a few more weeks, and the payoff is a bit more sunlight at the end of the day to play outside with the kids.

I love it, but I usually don't come into work until 7:45 or 8 am. This will give me more daylight in the evening, which means more time for riding in the daylight and more time to tinker in the garage/driveway on my bike and other things.

Looking forward to it.
If it had started last weekend instead of this next weekend, I'd probably be riding after work today.

Don't like losing an hour of sleep but it's a quick adjustment and I like more after hours sunlight.

I'm always hopeful that DST will somehow help me trick my kids into going to sleep earlier but it never happens.

Insomnia? Melatonin is your friend. ;-)

On the plus side we get an hour extra daylight in the afternoon for that after-work bike ride!

It's the single best day of the year. So glad it's coming earlier. For me, it marks the end of winter and the beginning of doing fun things outside after work. Bring it on!

Exactly. We need to permanently stick with DST year round.

I can make the switch without a hitch, but DST is a hassle. It gets light an hour too late, and dark an hour too late. Doesn't interfere with my riding, but does interfere with having light to see at work, we start at 6 and work outdoors, and interferes with my bedtime. <grumble>

AKA - Summer Time! It's slightly different around the world!

http://www.worldtimezone.com/daylight.htm

Extended darkness in the morning, more chance to use my cool new Fenix lighting system. :D

Exactly. We need to permanently stick with DST year round.

We do in some places. Arizona, where 6AM is always 6AM and feels like 6AM. No DST. (and my clock is always right!)

Exactly. We need to permanently stick with DST year round.

Been tried and failed miserably. There's something really depressing about getting to work and having the sun come up 30 minutes after you get there. Plus it's full on dark when the little kiddies have to go to school. I'll pass, thanks.

try again. It is dark when I get to work about half the year. I do start a wee bit early.
It has also been proven that starting school later helps most kids. So, push that back.

try again. It is dark when I get to work about half the year. I do start a wee bit early.
It has also been proven that starting school later helps most kids. So, push that back.

One of the problems with starting school later is then the after school activities get pushed back too late.

The time-change can't come fast enough for me.

It sincerely bummed me out this year (I believe it was revised to be a more compact winter schedule) as it wasn't so much of a gradual change. As a night-owl I value long periods of light in the evening and absolutely detest a 5-6PM sundown; I don't mind the sun coming up later as it'll just give me a cooler ride on the way in. :)

I prefer DST. At worst, my departure time just before sunrise so I might need some flashers and that's about it. But at least it's getting lighter as I ride home, and not darker. No more dealing with water bottle batteries that need to be recharged.

try again. It is dark when I get to work about half the year. I do start a wee bit early.
It has also been proven that starting school later helps most kids. So, push that back.

DST goes the wrong way for the kiddies. You're starting them at 630 in the morning instead of at 730.

If it is light at 6am now then it will be light at 7 am. Instead of starting school at 6:30 am start them at 7:30 am. I must be missing something.
Anyhow, my opinion is obviously the minority opinion. So the heck with time. That will solve this BS. :p

Why don't they have the sun come up at noon and go down at midnight,then they can leave the damn thing alone....

I love it. I want it to be all year round so my evening commute will always be pretty light.

Why don't they have the sun come up at noon and go down at midnight,then they can leave the damn thing alone....

It doesn't stay up for 12 hrs year round. Now if we could force the universe to change....

If it is light at 6am now then it will be light at 7 am. Instead of starting school at 6:30 am start them at 7:30 am. I must be missing something.
Anyhow, my opinion is obviously the minority opinion. So the heck with time. That will solve this BS. :p

Spring forward. At 1 hour. Sunrise is at 625 3/6 for Denver. Sunrise will be at 725 3/7 for Denver. Civil twilight (light enough to do stuff outdoors and see but too dark to ride without lights without some sleep deprived ijujit squishing you;)) is at 558 3/6 and at 659 3/7. It'll be pretty dark at 700 this Sunday.

And the kiddies work on suntime, not clock time...as do we all. The clock says 700 but we know in our lizard brain that it's 600;) I'm almost done with the whole dragging kids to school thing but talk to your wife about about who's gonna take the kids to school an hour later than now (830 vs 730);)

DST is the worst idea ever.
If you want to go to work or get home from work during the day,
CHANGE YOUR F*$^#NG SCHEDULE!!!!

Don't make the rest of the country change theirs.

CE


I still say it's the best day of the year -- and feakouts like yours somehow will make me enjoy it even more.

Spring forward -- YES!

I got clocks that will finally read the correct time., again. My clock on my bike I never change of DST.

Spring forward. At 1 hour. Sunrise is at 625 3/6 for Denver. Sunrise will be at 725 3/7 for Denver. Civil twilight (light enough to do stuff outdoors and see but too dark to ride without lights without some sleep deprived ijujit squishing you;)) is at 558 3/6 and at 659 3/7. It'll be pretty dark at 700 this Sunday.

And the kiddies work on suntime, not clock time...as do we all. The clock says 700 but we know in our lizard brain that it's 600;) I'm almost done with the whole dragging kids to school thing but talk to your wife about about who's gonna take the kids to school an hour later than now (830 vs 730);)


My son is 4 and doesn't start kindergarten until the fall. More likely than not, it will be both of us who take him to school. I'm not really worried about light until he starts taking himself to school. At least my son's elementary school is a half mile away. That boy is going to be riding to school when he gets old enough.

Ugh. I can't stand DST. It takes months for my body to get used to it, then it's time to switch back. DST = insomnia time for me. :(

Try Melatonin.

I got clocks that will finally read the correct time., again. My clock on my bike I never change of DST.

Hah.. so I'm not the only one. Cyclometers are always on DST, in anticipation...

meh...One month of leaving for work at 0415 and another month of leaving for work at 1615. And it alternates every other month...

My circadian is so screwed up after years of this it doesn't really matter. I'll just be glad to be in sunshine for at least part of my commute!

Uh Oh! That means the fella lit up light the Mother ship is soon to be back out commuting!

side note: is it REALLY better to have 4 flippin front lights blazing away? I can't see nuttin' but spots after passing this guy even if I look down as he passes!


edit: I know its not you cycommute, your in another part of the city...

I don't care if it's dark for 24 hours, just get rid of this persistently annoying snow and cold. This has been the longest, coldest winter I can recall in the past 15 years.

Waiting patiently for the Spring starts on March X thread. And yes smartass candidates, I know spring officially begins on March 21 :D

Sheesh.

meh...One month of leaving for work at 0415 and another month of leaving for work at 1615. And it alternates every other month...

My circadian is so screwed up after years of this it doesn't really matter. I'll just be glad to be in sunshine for at least part of my commute!

Uh Oh! That means the fella lit up light the Mother ship is soon to be back out commuting!

side note: is it REALLY better to have 4 flippin front lights blazing away? I can't see nuttin' but spots after passing this guy even if I look down as he passes!


edit: I know its not you cycommute, your in another part of the city...

I only have 3...and you would be seeing spots. You'd have holes out the back of your head:eek::D