How Was Your Commute Today?

[DebW]

Grrrr.
3 miles from home - I'm on a dark MUT and it's nearly full dark - and my headlight blinks out. Completely. Utterly. Went from bright high-beam glorious light flooding the trail, to....nothing.
Normally, the Li-Ion battery has a light that lights up when it is going weak. But it didn't this time. The light just blinked out without warning.
I'm hoping it's only that the battery is dead. It's on the charger now.
I don't have a spare battery for this light and don't normally carry a spare light. But I felt utterly exposed with no headlight (just my blinking LED on my helmet), despite the 3 lights I had on my back.
Perhaps I need to carry the Dinotte as a spare.....

I had a MiNewt fail on the bulb/head, battery was fine. Ended up buying a new head. Maybe you can find someone else with the same light and try your battery on their light.

[7rider]

I had a MiNewt fail on the bulb/head, battery was fine. Ended up buying a new head. Maybe you can find someone else with the same light and try your battery on their light.

Looks like it was the battery after all. Whew!
I charged it up, attached it last night, and it's working fine.
Double whew!
Mental note to self: Regular battery charging, and DON'T rely on that little indicator light...which does not appear to indicate anything!

[pfunk12]

Glad to hear that it was just the battery. I concur on the note to self. I have gotten into the habit of recharging the battery every evening. By the way, without the wind this morning, it was a balmy 20 degrees. Another toasty ride.

Looks like it was the battery after all. Whew!
I charged it up, attached it last night, and it's working fine.
Double whew!
Mental note to self: Regular battery charging, and DON'T rely on that little indicator light...which does not appear to indicate anything!

[DebW]

Looks like it was the battery after all. Whew!
I charged it up, attached it last night, and it's working fine.
Double whew!
Mental note to self: Regular battery charging, and DON'T rely on that little indicator light...which does not appear to indicate anything!

Even if you don't get the indicator light, you should notice the step-down to a dimmer level as the battery gets low and attempts to preserve power. Though the last time that happened to mine, I had less than 5 minutes before it shut off and I had to ride home on my backup light. Always have a backup light, even if it's a cheap dim one.

[Melalvai]

The nice thing about a cold snap is that when it's over, 30F feels SO warm!! I don't have to spend 20 minutes getting dressed for a 15 minute ride. (Slight exaggeration. Only the 1st time, after that I could always easily find my long johns on the floor where I left them when I got home.)

[malkin]

The nice thing about a cold snap is that when it's over, 30F feels SO warm!! I don't have to spend 20 minutes getting dressed for a 15 minute ride. (Slight exaggeration. Only the 1st time, after that I could always easily find my long johns on the floor where I left them when I got home.)

I didn't even think it was an exaggeration. Some days, I have trouble smoothing out all the wrinkles in the leg layers.

[colorisnt]

No today's ride, but yesterday's. A cool 22 degrees and it felt GREAT. I had a great time riding to/from school and did a great job in a higher gear going up my hell hill coming back. Just me and the road. I love that quiet.

I thought I would chicken out in the cold, but I loved it.

[lph]

Ooh, I have a new cold record! And a new handy tip!

My last "lowest" was around -15 C (5 F), but I remember it as a bit painful. Now I rode in to work (50 minutes) one morning in -16,5 C (2-3F), had a couple of cold fingertips on the downhill part, they thawed up nicely but then my toes started complaining, so when I got to work I had 3 or 4 really cold toes.

Next morning was -19 C, I wussed out.

Next morning was -16,5 C again, and I was determined to try again. Fashioned toe covers out of newspaper - one double sheet folded once, placed with the fold right in front of the cleat underneath my shoe, then just packed around my forefoot like packing a gift, and one round of tape around to hold it together. Then shoe covers over. Toasty warm, worked like a charm! And they were solid enough that they can be reused, even!

[7rider]

Even if you don't get the indicator light, you should notice the step-down to a dimmer level as the battery gets low and attempts to preserve power. Though the last time that happened to mine, I had less than 5 minutes before it shut off and I had to ride home on my backup light. Always have a backup light, even if it's a cheap dim one.

Well, that's the head scratcher. I didn't notice any step-down in power (maybe I'm just clueless!). It went from full-on bright, to nothing. Like a switch was thrown. I don't know if maybe my powering up from low-beam to high as I prepared to enter the dark MUT was the straw that broke that camel's back. I didn't ride today (ran in the a.m. and a retirement party to attend this evening), but tomorrow will be the next test. I do know I'll be packing the Dinotte in my pannier, tho!