Night riding rules!

[enzed]

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.

[crazycanuck]

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

[mimitabby]

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.

[enzed]

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.
And there's nothing quite like seeing the sun-rise over Manly Beach.

[CR400]

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.

[RoadRaven]

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...