Commuting at Night

[Voodoo Sally]

Does anyone commute home late at night, as in, 10 or 11 PM? Do you have any qualms?

[farrellcollie]

During the school year I commute at night because I teach in the late afternoon and evening - so a couple of nights a week I would not leave until 10:00 or so. I use a reflective jacket, lights, blinkies, and reflective tape everywhere. I have told my GF my route and I stick to it. I call her before I leave and we know about how long it takes me to get home. I am only really worried about one deserted stretch in a not great area of town - but other than that and the excessive caution listed above - I like it.

[Jones]

I commute home at 3 am, I have pepper spray mounted on my seat post. My commute is not long and at 3 traffic is really light so a lot of times I ride on the wrong side of the street when I know a car is behind me and I can clearly see for miles in front of me. This way I have a bigger buffer zone between me and the car.
I have a great head light designed for night mountain biking and several blinkies for the back of my bike. Once I got used to being out in the dark I really started to enjoy the ride and often get to see coyotes.
Hope this helps,
Jones

[dingster1]

I commute to work at 1130. I have a short commute of a mile or so. Not too much traffic to fight with and my route is well lit.

[Voodoo Sally]

Thanks for the replies. I ride home sometimes between 10pm - midnight, about 7 miles. Just one street is quite dark and lonely. But in general I feel fairly safe with all my lights & reflectors. I also think it's kind of fun, being out in the quiet streets at night.

[Crankin]

Voodoo, where are you commuting from? I see you live in Maynard. I would actually feel pretty safe commuting at night around here, if I had the right lights, etc.
Do you ride a Voodoo? I am using one as my "errand" bike. I love it. It's the bike I started riding on 7 years ago. Three road bikes later, I still enjoy getting out on it, although it's heavy.

Robyn

[Geonz]

It's often 10:30 or so on Mondays when I have singing after work (at the college). It's never been a problem... but I'm on streets tooling reasonably fast and not going through where people are hanging out - which would be more likely in the summer.
I avoid going through the U of I campus if it's a big game or big drinking night.