vol

I often leave home in daytime and return after dark (so definitely need lights). How about you? Do you mostly commute in daytime round trip, or one way in the dark? Or round trip in the dark?

Huffandstuff

In the winter, every commute is in the dark. Spring/Fall it's in the dusk/dawn area. Summer is beautiful daylight.

Alphamoose

In the winter, all my return trips are in the dark. Not nearly so alarming as I used to think it would be.

ro-monster

Every day.

CB HI

Not very often now, but for years every morning commute was in the dark and I did an 11 month period of night work that finished up between 2-4 am.

Bizman

I commute 25 miles round trip, mostly at night, 4 nights minimum. I leave between 4:30 - 8:30 pm and get home at 3:30 - 4:00 am. Depending on the time of year my commute going in can be dark or daylight when I leave. I am within 2 1/2 months of completing my first year of commuting, of course this had to be one of the coldest longest winters on record (I believe) LOL.

Sometimes I commute twice, depending if I have work related things to do in the day. I really enjoy commuting at night, it is so peaceful, hardly a vehicle on the road, when the moon & stars are out I always look around and say to myself, this is what it's all about, it doesn't get any better than this!

TheEnthusiast

I wish I could commute at night. Where I live, in southern Missouri, my county is the meth capital of the the US. I kind of get scared riding around at night. I avoid using my little blinker and headlight just so nobody see's me. Also I live in a pretty rural area and during the 60's, 70's, & early 80's, there have been reports of Bigfoot sightings. But I'm 19 I want to get used to riding at night at such an early age. -.-

tsl

My ride home is in the dark for eight months of the year.

BicyclesBuddy

I commute around 20 KMs daily, while returning there is a darkness but not complete darkness and I don't have lights as well I think it might be dark for around 3-4 KMs

Jim from Boston

I was that way too, until I got hit from behind on a wide, well lit, low-trafficked, low-speed-limit, residential street in June, 2012. Fortunately I have the option of Commuter Rail home with bike, and I had to promise family and friends I would cut out the evening commute.

My early morning dark commute is from about November til March, and other than the cold weather, I enjoy the dark commute. The auto traffic is markedly diminished, particularly in my reverse commute direction from downtown to a suburb. I hunker down in my mind in a state I call "cocooning," and become oblivious to everything but the Road and my thoughts. Also because it's dark, I can't tell how gloomy the sky might be, unlike in the dawn's early light.

jeffpoulin

My morning commute is in the dark for 10 months of the year. The evening commute for 3 months. It's just getting light enough to not need a headlight for the evening commute. :-)

ItsJustMe

All winter trips in are in the dark. It's getting to be dawn about now. I sometimes go home in the dark too.

locolobo13 

About 4-5 mos my morning commute is in the dark. Maybe 3 mos for my evening commute home.

noglider 

What risks does the meth capitol present? Criminals ready to jump you? Drivers under the influence? I don't know much about this stuff.

NOS88

From the start of October until the end of March my morning commute is in the dark.

dramiscram

+1

Every morning is in daylight

tarwheel 

At least part of my commute is in the dark about 6 months of the year.

tjspiel

I would think most people (outside of the tropics) who commute year round get to spend some time riding in the dark. About this time of year some of my evening commutes will end with a little daylight left. My morning commutes are now all after sunrise.

The roads are bad this week and probably will be for awhile yet so I'm glad that it's easier to spot the uneven and extra slick places, - and that I'm more visible to the drivers.

spivonious

I leave home around 8AM, and leave work around 4:45PM, so whatever the sun is doing at that moment. Over the winter that means dark rides home once Daylight Saving Time ends, and semi-dark mornings when Daylight Saving Time starts.

I use some combination of lights and reflective clothing if it's anything darker than sunny.

pdlamb

Living on the eastern edge of a time zone, most of my mornings are lit (unless I need to get to work early in December or January). The ride home is in the dark about five months.

And I hate switching between standard and daylight time.

jyl

I ride in at 5:00 am so it is always in the dark, except for a brief period in summer. I ride home from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm, so that is sometimes in the dark during winter. Our dark is often rainy, and the streaming windshields, steamed-up windows, and roadway reflections give drivers even less visibility than normal. So, yes, I have lots of lights. Four white lights forward including helmet and bar-end lights (TACX); five red lights rearward including backpack and bar-end lights. And a white coin-cell blinky strapped around the front hub, red one around the rear hub, for a whirligig attention-getting effect. I hardly ever turn them all on, but on nights when I am stuck riding through rush hour traffic in heavy rain, I look like the circus.

Jim from Boston

I too live on the eastern edge of the Eastern Time Zone, but a couple times a year travel to Michigan on the western edge. I lose an hour of daylight in the morning, but gain an hour in the evening just by the travel, for the same given time of day in the Eastern Zone.

noglider 

pdlamb, where specifically in the "northern Deep South" are you?

gregjones

Yeah, perception would have a lot to do with that.

You might really be on the southern edge of the far north.

As in above Knoxville on the map.

Ky_Rider

If I commute to work in the mornings it's dark. Most of the time my wife drops me off at work in the morning so I get to commute home during the daylight hours. I'm still trying to get used to the dark mornings. I'll admit it's kinda cool to watch the sunrise in the mornings though.