Night riding rules!

Hello everybody. I just got back from doing my fav night ride - a 25km loop ride. It's so quiet outside & there's hardly any traffic.
On the way back, I ended up " racing" a mountainbiker.
He was the only other cyclist on the road for the whole ride & when he passed me he said a friendly hello.
I'm not the most competative person, but I have a decent chance of passing someone on a mountain bike (a Giant boulder to be exact). So I reckon I would try to keep up & maybe pass them. But, this guy was smokin.
Seriously, I raised a decent sweat trying to keep up with him. When I finally was level with him, I just had to comment on how fast he was & we ended up chatting.
He reckons we were riding about 30Km at one point, and I was keeping up pretty well.
We never got around to exchanging names, but it's good to know there are other night riders out there.

Hey Enzed..what time is sunset in Nsw these days? Nice to see ya riding!

Night riding is cool. Riding in the dark no longer bothers me. As long as I can see, i'm cool. I leave home at about 5am when it's dark & if i do a 60km+ ride after work I get home after sunset.

C

this being the time of year where it's hard to find much darkness here (and the opposite where you are)
i don't like riding in the dark. I can't see as well, even with lights (and i'm not spending $600 for a light) and motoristss can't see me as well. Okay, maybe they can, because i am going to be totally reflective, stuff stuck all over me,
and little red blinking lights.
But in my few night rides, i've gone over curbs (where I expected a curb cut) and into nasty pot holes.

The sunsets around 5pm. Not that I mind too much.
I'm all setup for night riding - decent lights, a safety vest & relfective tape on my bike.
That said, I do live in the city - so I'm always on my guard. Over the years, I've become more confident when it comes to sharing the road. When I do go on night rides, I use roads which I am familar with & which are well-lit.

The fav part of my 25Km loop ride - there's this good downhill bit.
As soon as I've ridden over the crest, I make sure the nearby traffic lights are green. Get into the big gears & head down - and I'm flying.

The early mornings are great too.
A couple of months ago, I rode up to North Head to see the "Queen Mary" cruise ship enter Sydney harbour. It was around 5.30am as I rode to the headland, passing a long queue of cars & people trying to get to the lookout. :D
And there's nothing quite like seeing the sun-rise over Manly Beach.

It rocks to ride at night even more if it's a full moon and you don't have to use your bike light because you are on a trail. It is in the fall around here when I night ride so there are few leaves on the trees to keep the moonlight off the path. That is totally cool. I really enjoy night riding, except it's usually colder at night. Now try night riding with a pair of dark sunglasses (goggles) that is creepy because your light never seems bright enough. I had to wear them because the group of guys I ride with have those $600 there's a train coming with a flood light on it lights. Even with the goggles it's painful to look at. Welcome to the night cycling club.

Having been considering night riding for a while - my days are too long to get outside on the bike before dark most days at the mo, I have been taking a critical look at lights on bikes.

I really dislike flashing front lights. I cannot work out depth perception accurately.
The best for visibility and knowing where a bike is is a large solid light - from the front these look like a slow scooter.

I have also disliked rear flashing lights (red of course) until last night and this guy had red flashes on his helmet, seat bag and frame - because there were three lots of flashing lights I had no problem at all with depth perception, plus I knew he HAD to be a cyclist.

So that is the set-up I am thinking of getting...

Night riding on my country road under the moon REALLY appeals...