Night riding

[equus123]

At least for me, my last VERY close run-in with a deer has steered me away from riding at night. I don't know about where you guys live or ride but we have a decent amount of deer here. Other stupid little animals like rabbits, squirrels, and gophers are always something to watch out for.

I've gone out with a friend several times and the end of our ride was in the dark. I do have to admit that it was neat and fun to ride in the dark. You feel a lot more freedom for some reason and it's fun in the sense that you can do anything you want! It's pitch black and nobody can see you! (Our rodes didn't have many street lights...if not none at all).

So my only advice is to be wary of wildlife. They're certainly out there and now you're in their domain once the lights go out and people are in their homes.

[mimitabby]

Equus, you live in NJ? yes, you guys Do have a lot of deer, don't you.
Here in the PacNW, there aren't too many deer in the BIG CITY... poor things wouldn' t know what to do.
I ride in the wee hours before dawn to get to work. I have a light on my helmet and two lights on my bike which are powered by the schmidt hub on my front wheel. I wear dayglow yellow and have two tail lights as well.
I am still terrified but it's better to ride with someone else.

[Blueberry]

Mimi-

Which lights do you have off your Schmidt?? I'm trying to make a decision about replacement lights for my bikes

We ride after dark all of the time - when after dark, I usually ride with DH. We're certainly well lit, and we do ride different routes. Sadly, where we live, once cannot ride but so far at night without being on either very rural roads (nice) or in terrible neighborhoods (not nice).

CA

[CR400]

Night riding is so much fun. It is important to find a good light that will illuminate the road or trail for you and of course let you be seen. It seems that the best bet if you have the money is to buy a light of at least $150 or more. Light N Motion seems to have good stuff that is what my buddies and I use. They have a light that looks like a blasted freight train coming down the trail and lights a few hundred yards ahead of you in a blue light (about $300 I think). Although this can cause problems with blinding oncoming traffic. Also you need lights on the back of your bike to be seen by others from behind, like traffic and other cyclists. Also remember to go slower then you would during the day at night as you cannot see as well with most lighting systems as in daylight. Also it is best to get a lighting system that is rechargable and not battery powered may be a little heavier and expensive but it will save you on batteries in the long run. It seems that most lights have a run time between 2 and 5 hours depending on brand and light settings.

Once you start riding like this you'll likely be hooked, it is a lot of fun.

[Geonz]

I don't go for fast riding at night but I do it a lot on my commute. (I still get a workout depending on which bicycle I"m riding.) I got a nice dynamo hub that lights my way, but I found the Cateye lights work well, too. WIth the dynamo I just don't have to worry about batteries. (I do kinda worry about "what about when the light bulb goes out" so I tend to have my light that goes around my head somewhere in my gear just in case. I would want that if I needed to get off the bike and see stuff anyway.)
I have put a Trek Flare 10 light on my helmet with its universal mount and cars give me a ton of room. I also got some strings of multicolored LED lights
that are wrapped around my camelbak and another one around theback of my bike.
I have hokey-spokes too but have to find the thingies to attach them or improvise something (soudns like an excuse to kibbitz at the LBS ) - they get lots of good reaction.
Just the helmet light works well - getting two strings flashing too gets me comments like "NObody's going to miss you!" I'll fire up the Christmas Tree and get it on the bike before too long...
(I'm in a college town on the prairie so I can get *some* traffic... if I go out a few miles I have to watch for wildlife but generally I'm not going fast enough to collide with them.)

[singletrackmind]

When I commuted I had blinkys on the back and front and a helmet light because it's less jumpy and looks where I do. Bright clothes and an orange safety vest with reflectives and lights on it that goes far enough down drivers can see it even when I'm bent over the bars. And a string of battery powered bright christmas lights wrapped around the frame.

And ride as if I was absolutely invisible to cars, pretty much like daytime riding.

[crazycanuck]

Since I can't see with the small lights I use Cat Eye Double shots during the winter & some other Cat eye one in spring/summer. I don't like handlebar mounted lights as i can't see so, I usually use a helmet light.

I hate blinky lights as man they hurt me eyes!! Ow! I leave my back light on normal mode just to save someone a headache.

C