Coming Home in the Dark
 

Last night was the final Thursday night group ride of my club. Living not far from the assembly point I always ride there and home. The now shorter days meant I rode the three miles to my home with my tail blinky on and my headlight offering a hint of the road ahead. It was an exhilarating feeling! Flying free through the not quite night rushing world of road and trees was as refreshing as a dip in the ocean. That is what I look for in my cycling. Living in the moment and feeling free and confident. It drops the years and is like a fountain of youth. Suppose if I had hit a deer or a rut in the road, or if someone on a cell phone scooped me up for an unplanned flight, it could have been all different. But I was very young last night and everyone knows that youthful feeling that you can live forever; that nothing can touch you.

Coming to that time when Headlamps are going be on the forum again.

I got into night riding when we were training for a long ride in the summer --but we started in February. Off road you need good lights but it took a long time before we got them. Nothing more exhilorating than riding with a Glow worm on the front of the bike that will just pick up the red eyes of some beastie that lurks just out of range of your lamps. Or the pothole that suddenly appears just under the front wheel- or the car that seems to take up all of the road because it doesn't see you.

So riding at night--You not only need to be able to see- You have to be seen.

But nothing like night riding to give you that full sense of freedom. Just you- the stars and the beasties.

I enjoy riding at night, particularly in the area near my home which is busy with traffic during the day. This week I was on a field project in a rural area of central Washington state, and only had time to ride at night. There's a state highway that runs through a large canyon there, and it was pure joy to take the curves at speed in full moonlight, with the slopes of the canyon glowing above and the stars for a roof. It was so bright I turned my lights off and just rode in the moonlight for many minutes at a time, until a car approached (very rare) or shadows crossed the road. This was the most sublime ride of the year so far.

In another two week I will strap on the Magic Shine for my 6AM week day rides. I recharged it last night in preperation. I guess I don't get a rush out of it but I do like the freedom of not being restricted to daylight hours.

Night rides are the best. My neighbors probably think I'm nuts, but if they only knew the fun they were missing. Very few cars, cool air, night sky. It is indeed a fountain of youth. Get the best lights you can afford and go for a ride!

Thursday night, coming home from a meeting at 9PM, saw a red light ahead of me on a trail that parrallels the road. Caught the glimps just as heading behind trees and thought was a maintenance crew. Even with it, glanced through the trees and was 6 cyclist grouped closely together illuminating the trail. Their silouette looked sweet, plus a great time to ride after the afternoon storms cool everything down.

I may have to skip next Thursday's Toastmaster's meeting and join them.

I used to hate night riding. I couldn't stand the idea of not being able to see the cracks in the road and believe it or not my bigger fear is my fellow cyclist the infamous "Bike Ninja" dark bike, dark cloths, no reflectors and no lights. Riding by myself made me feel like a target. I started asking people who did like riding at night and they were almost universal in their suggestion that all I needed was a better lighting system. Well they were right but what they didn't say was how expensive a good lighting system can be.

I am still not going to put night riding in my top ten things I like about cycling but I have been on a few group rides after dark this year with some people using NiteRider lights. Mini-newt duels and singles. My LBS has made a group offer to our club pricing the lights at a 40 percent discount so I broke down and ordered one. But one thing night riding does is it slows you down to enjoy the ride.

http://asnaggydime.com/php/item_show.php?FF,5003

This is a little ditty I found. A nonpriprotory batery system 4C cells. Anyone own one?

I just "upgraded" to a Busch and Mueller Ixon IQ. (Got that, 10 Wheels?) Damn, this is a good light. Pricey, yes, but well worth the investment. The manufacture quality is nice indeed. In another few weeks, it will be "real country dark" on a good portion of my evening rides, so it was necessary.

Riding at night = fun.

However, I did a dual line paceline on Monday night with an unfamiliar group of about 40 on an unfamiliar route that had my full attention. I couldn't tell you exactly how fast we were going as I couldn't see my Cateye, but I'd guess in the 19- 21 mph range most of the time. Not so fast in the daytime but scary fast in the pitch black night on a Chicago Forest Preserve road 18" behind one stranger, rubbing elbows with another, and who knows what's going on in the gap behind. Lights were kind of a problem in fact because I felt blinded by some of the red blinkies - more incentive to keep the gap so close that it's out of my range of vision I guess.

Riding at night, especially during the summer months, is a blast! You get the enjoyment of riding in the warm weather, without the hassles of riding in blinding, bright sunlight. You don't even have to be concerned with sun block. A good insect repellent is well advised though.

Of course, there are hazards, as there are with pretty much everything else.

I like nite rides very much, but there are dangers lurking so the brighter the light the better!

I'm going out shopping for a dynamo hub this weekend.

The past 3 winters I've commuted with diNotte headlights, but I think it's time to "graduate" to a dynamo hub so I can forget about recharging my headlights every night. Am looking at the same light you have.

I'm a minimalist when it comes to lighting night time activities. There is so much ambient light in the cities, that I try to rely on that as much as possible for seeing, and use my bike lights to make sure I am being seen. I generally have my headlight set to blinking for that reason. I take the same approach hiking, and even scuba diving, at night. If there is ambient light, either natural or created by all the heavily lighted people around me, I do my best to use that light, and to allow my eyes to adjust as fully as possible.

I still have not put together my SA equipped 3 speed w/drum brakes and hub generator. I bought one of the IQ style German engineered lights. It may be time to assemble the bike!

With all due respect, this seems dangerous to me. My commute is one-half on unlit roads (truly and completely dark) and one-half "city" conditions. When I am in the "city" part of my commute I see lots of cyclists using "be seen" headlights and they are very hard to spot. The problem is that there is a lot of other lighting in these conditions - car headlights, store signs, etc. The cyclists with little blinkies on just blend right in. I think you're very exposed to cars doing "left hooks" in front of you w/out really great lighting in city conditions.

The Tandem goes off road and we need good lights for it. Don't get to 50 at night on the downhills- but 40 over lumpy ground needs good lighting to be safe.

But we also have a "Spare" light on the thing- and helmet lamps. Makes no difference when we get back to civilisation though- The twin 5w luxion LED that bightens the trail for 200 yards- cannot be seen by Car drivers and Peds in town. That is where the second front lamp and the helmet lamps get switched on. We still blend into the background.

Same on the rear. We use two bright rear lamps- one on constant and one on blink. We have been sideswiped twice on our night rides- because the Car driver did not see us. And the number of Peds that walk out in front of us is alarming.

But that Luxion headlamp I have- couple of years ago on Christmas eve I rode back from work. I would eventually be night riding and as it was a dull afternoon- I used it on Blink. It is bright but I did not have cars pull out of junctions in front of me. In the daylight they saw the light- looked again and let me through.

My light blinks in a psuedo-randomized pattern. I don't have it on the bike now (Summer) or I'd provide the brand/model. I believe it is much more easily seen than a steady light, even if that steady light were brighter (and mine is a fairly bright LED light). There are lots of steady lights around - flashing in a weird pattern helps to stand out from the background lights. But trying to fully light the path in front of me would require multiple bright lights. I know my route very well, it is reasonable well lit, and I can see far enough ahead of myself to maintain my normal bike path speed without accepting any significant additional risk over what there is in daytime.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :-P~~

Benge

I have the schmidt hub and the supernova 161S headlamp with their 161T tail light. The generator powered headlight and taillight are on the bike always, and are always on. I add a dinotte tail light when commuting is in the dark. The Supernova headlight gives me plenty of light for urban riding, and I hear that the new Schmidt Edelux is brighter still - and there are brighter headlights in the supernova range. I wish someone made a bright, blinking tail light that was generator powered - we all live with lights that were designed by and for Germans.

+1
IMHO Those MS lights are like giving sliced wholewheat bread to a caveman - I just love mine. I bought mine before the tail light with the Y-cord came on the market. Can't be a bad light if the front is anything to go by.

I will ride at night and have occasionally enjoyed the change of scenery and pace. Yet, while on vacation in Holland this summer I realized that riding at 10:00 pm with daylight was even more enjoyable for me. During late fall, winter, and early spring I ride in twilight and dark much more than I would like. But the thought of not riding at all is just not acceptable. This very week I've put my miniature white and red blinkie lights in the saddle bag to make me more visible when I misjudge the length and time of the ride. It seems that it not only gets dark earlier it gets dark quicker.

Make sure you are proficient at fixing flats. I had one Wednesday night. Good thing I had a can of bug spray with me. I would recommend a headband style headlamp just for fixing flats.