I'm riding home from work on Friday, and it's about 5:30-5:40PM. It's dark, but not pitch-black dark. I'm about half-way home, when I hear some voices. I check behind me to see if it's another rider about to overtake me, but there's nobody there. I keep riding and the voices are getting louder. Then I spot some movement across the road. There, in the bike lane are two guys running (going with traffic). No reflective vests, ankle bands, or blinkies--just dark clothes. Unbelievable.

Yes, I know that cyclists do this all the time, but I was surprised that someone would run along a 45mph section of road with zero reflective gear (where there are no street lights).

I was riding the other day up a slight hill in the dark. I saw some eyes reflecting back at me. I thought it was a deer at first, but it appeared to be in the street and walking towards me. Strange....keep pedaling, then notice that it looks more like a dog...German Shepard. Oh **** I think. Why is this dog headed towards me on this desolate road? Then, finally I see the person behind the dog with the leash. No flashlight or reflective gear at all. There are no street lights or any light source whatsoever other than what was on my bike. I don't even know how the guy managed to not fall off the roadway it was so dark.

It's really mind-boggling to me how little some people care about their well-being. Something as little as carrying a light or a reflective item can mean the difference between life and death.

Narrowing the gene-pool of stupidity.

I agree totally. I have lights and blinkys all over. I just added to red blinks tonight. I work with a guy has been carfree for 11 years now. I has never used a light or reflective items other that the reflectors that come on the bike. His philosophy is that people are drawn towards the red or blinky lights on the back. They stare at the because they are not sure what they are until it is too late. I understand what he is saying, I'm just not sure I believe it.

I was out last night and it was -22C and saw a guy walking around outside in pyjamas and bare feet... managed to convince him to come inside a convenience store as he was looking at losing some toes if he stayed out there.

He wasn't wearing reflective pyjamas either.

I gotta admit that I was one of those guys who used to run after dark with no reflective gear. I never thought it was a big deal. I always figured I could dive off the road if a car came close to hitting me. I wasn't too bright.

When i first started reading this i thought it was gonna go another direction, damn i was really hoping you ran upon some monsters

Bet he had antifreeze in his system

Gotta be honest, I was getting a little freaked out as the voices got louder.

I'm sure he'll thank you later. He very well could have been someone in need of mental health care for something like bipolar or dementia.

I encounter ninja runners on my commute route all the time. That was my main reason for putting a bell on my bike, and part of my reason for getting a more powerful headlight. Yesterday there was a jogger running down the middle of the lane while it was extremely foggy outside. He was just begging someone to run over him.

They might have been monsters. It was dark and he couldn't really see them.

What do monster's voices sound like?

Honestly, though, I don't think most pedestrians even consider how invisible they are. Particularly because they aren't invisible to each other -- they're moving slowly.

Most running shoes have some reflective patches on the heel area -- I look for reflected flashes at/near ground level.

The guy riding 11 years w/out the blinky has been lucky.

Last month I narrowly missed two joggers at night. I didn't see them until I was almost right on them. They each wore a reflective armband with embedded flashing LEDs, however they were wearing dark clothing and were two abreast on a rural, unlit road. They were invisible to me.

My bar-mounted headlight did not illuminate their armbands because their armbands were near their shoulders too high up off the ground. My headlight (and car headlights) only illuminate straight out horizontally and down. I didn't see any reflection from the bands because the angle between the bar-mounted light and my eyes was too great. I would have seen them much sooner if they wore the reflective bands at their ankles. The flashing LEDs on the armbands were pointed outward, not toward the front. I didn't see their LED lights until it was too late.

On paper it would have seemed that everyone was being safe.

Since then I've been wearing a cheap white LED headlamp on my helmet to get a tight angle to my line of sight for reflective surfaces.

I like to think monsters have the same voice as christopher walken

Monsters sound like this guy:

To play devil's advocate but maybe they got caught out running not realizing how quickly it gets dark out. I remember when it still used to be light out when it was around 8:30pm. This time of year the darkness seems to come very quickly. Now where's Adam or Colleen suggesting a good Airzound to scare the bejeebas out of them? Or another poster mentioning that you should yell at them "get on the sidewalk". (I love the commuting section)

There's been at least two cases where I almost hit a bicyclist because they had absolutely no lights or reflective material on. Not only that, but we were on a road with no lights. The latest of these instances I had to swerve hard at the end to miss the guy. I can't believe people don't have at least a rear blinking light in one of the best cycling cities in the country.