Commuting & Being Seen

[nuthatch]

Just on the light front, I've been feeling pretty safe with a Planet Bike Alien Sport 10W and a Cat Eye TL-LD 1000 tail light. I've also got a Performance Viewpoint headlight for backup in case of battery failure. I can confirm that the tail light is blindingly bright and has two rows of lights that you can independently control with all sorts of blinking patterns. I attached it to the back of my Brooks saddle with a some metal Erector set pieces because the little metal strips would bend to the shape of the saddle!

I've got one of those reflective vests for summer and winter commuting and the reflective leg bands. My bike has those sticky reflective shapes all over it, as does my helmet. It's colder up here, so I wear a mesh Headsweats baseball style cap over fleece earwarmers (and a fleece skull cap or polypro balaclava when it's below 45) with my reflective helmet on top. The baseball cap brim is really helpful when it's raining and the rain drips off the end of the brim instead of directly in my eyes - it means I can keep my bike glasses on. This arrangement seems to make more sense to me than a helmet cover.

I've got full fenders, a goretex hooded jacket (and I pull that hood up underneath the baseball cap when it's raining) and cheap rain pants but no shoe covers yet. I'm still wondering about these - when I tried them on at the bike store, they were like delivering a baby, trying to get my feet in them. I wear a size 10 and I was trying on a size 12 and it was still tight as hide.

I've got to rave again about the wool base layer. I can wear it for a week and it doesn't stink (I know, gross!). I sweat alot, even in the cold, so having a base layer that doesn't chill right down to icicles at the traffic lights is so nice. And because I sweat, I've got to change when I arrive at work so I wear all biking clothes and tote my civvies with me in a pannier on a back rack that is not waterproof but everything is in plastic bags inside.

So now I'm wondering about:

shoe covers
waterproof gloves and reflective strips on the gloves for visibility when signaling
a groovy jacket like CorsairMac's with pit zips

There's always some new toy, isn't there!