NoWhammies

Yeah, I'm in the same boat as some of you here. With the loss of daylight hours it is getting harder and harder to get motivated to get out and ride. I'm hoping that I'll still manage to ride on weekends though. Just later in the day I suppose.

TimothyH

Yep, you and I are in Atlanta.

I'll start a ride just as the sun is dipping below the horizon and go 50 miles, typically two or three times/week. Tonight I did 30 miles gravel out in Paulding County in the dark.

I'm completely set up for the cold. Just need to have the right gear, ride within your own limits and the gear's limits and trust that your gear will do its job. Modern cycling gear is just as revolutionary as lights if used correctly. That's a whole 'nother topic we will be talking about soon enough.


-Tim-

TimothyH

Nope, ain't nothing wrong with that at all.


-Tim-

Reeses

I would hit 60 miles if not for the early nights now

jitteringjr

So you need to add some arm warmers and you're good to go.

Zaskar

Oh, I know. I used to say that my cut-off was 25 degrees. And yeah @jitteringjr - that doesn't happen much down here. I've got all the gear... but last winter I got a Kickr and, well... I've softened. Cold weather is often described in my club as "it's looking a bit zwifty outside" meaning, we're meeting in Watopia instead of outside.

rumrunn6

this is why I like protected bike paths. they feel safer than streets at night. last fall I got into a habit of throwing my bike on my car, then after work, driving to a well known trail for 1-2 hrs of riding. early on, I started the rides before dark but then eventually started the rides in darkness. it's a little creepy but the trail is used by other ppl so I wasn't entirely alone. get some lights & find a trail?

last year I added a wide angle lens & a hood so that I wouldn't blind oncoming ppl. works great, but they sell lights now that have these features as standard



went from this



to this

TimothyH

Atlanta isn't the topics.

It was 17° last Jan 1 and my bottles froze.

OldTryGuy

Actually had to stop back home to make sure wife woke up and left house in time for Girl Scout volunteer job. Took advantage of return to shower and change kit even though IF I had jumped into our pool I probably would have dried off in the water. Heat and Humidity during the night made for dripping wet riding. Also had 2 sun-up stops for refueling.

One 650 NiteRider and two 600 NightRider lights. 650 mounted on helmet and 600's on bars.

https://www.niterider.com/road/

Dan333SP

Lucky for me, my work schedule is 9:30 - 6 PM so I always ride before work, usually leave the house between 6:30-7:30 for 1-2 hours of riding. Don't mind the change in day length because I absolutely love being outside right at dawn, and my lights keep me plenty visible. I do hate the cold, though, and will switch back to Zwift as soon as it's regularly in the 40s or below.

noodle soup

On the low setting?

WhyFi

I hope so, otherwise I'd be more concerned with blinding someone and having them plow in to me.

motosonic

I'm still injured from my crash at the moment so, not riding.. at all. 😞
But, for me.. I can't go riding at peak traffic hours (ie 6:30am-9-30am and 3:30pm to 6:30pm) because people driving to/from work just drive too recklessly and are far too distracted. Way too many close calls. So I feel the OPs pain here because when the daylight gets shorter, it kills my motivation because my available riding times are greatly diminished. I don't like riding when it's too cold, either. I think 50° is my cutoff. I don't have cold weather gear and don't feel like splurging for all of it. Just not that interested in it. So I typically pull out the trainer and start riding indoors. A/C on if necessary .Lol . it's not the same, but it's something.

Abe_Froman

Ugh I hate it. I work 11-8 3 or 4 days a week. I'd rather work super early

OldTryGuy

YES, low setting one at a time most often. Once my eyes are night acclimated there is usually no need for additional brightness whether roads have pole lights or not. I flip on helmet 650 on low when riding next to a preserve area where wild hogs often graze next to the road and when wet conditions exist. As the first 600 reduces in intensity I will flip back-up 600 on usually 4 hours into the ride.

rumrunn6

haha bingo! that's the temp!

kbarch

Eh, doesn't make much difference to me.. don't mind riding before the sun comes up (it's light by the time I get back home) and even in summer I get home too late to ride.

OK, I know you were just being rhetorical, and it's great how efficient LED are these days, but that is SO WRONG.
When there is no ambient daylight, riding around with bright headlights is good for nothing but blinding people. It's certainly no substitute for daylight.
/rant.

DrIsotope

If your lights are aimed correctly and have decent cutoff, you're not blinding anyone. I like riding at night. The cars are easier to see, there are a lot less of them, I know I'm easier to see (with the lights, ya'know) and there are no bars in my neighborhood.

As to being concerned about "blinding people"... yeah, nah.

kbarch

Yeah, no reason to worry about blinding anyone - until they can't see where they are going and run off the road or run over someone else. Errmmmmm. Whatever. I just hate bright lights at night. The stars are bright enough to navigate by, not that I do, but I don't need hundreds of lumens to ride safely.

Meanwhile, I'm happy to hear you make a point of aiming them correctly and shielding them. That really is key.

DrIsotope

Well, we've got light pollution. So it's about a 700 lumen minimum. I'd rather see the fist-sized chunk of asphalt lying in the road than worry if the light is too bright for an oncoming car. Besides, you get out to where the streetlights end, and every damn car has their highbeams on anyway. They certainly don't care who they blind.

cthenn

Since this turned into a "riding at night" topic, I enjoy riding at night, but only once I'm on the bike. I'm a NorCal weather wuss, but when the temps go into the 40s or lower, I have to really bundle up, and it takes quite a while to get warmed up. I can run hot, so I have to choose between starting off really cold and warming up or starting off ok, and heating up too much.

As far as lighting goes, I'm happy with my own lights, I also think it's easier to be seen at night (from behind or in front) than it is in bright sunshine, or dusk/dawn. I have some orange spoke lights I use for side visibility, but I still get nervous when I encounter cars at driveways or side streets. Also, people who think I'm blinding them can pound sand. All the cars these days use those crazy bright and piercing HID lights, which always blind me as a driver. Plus all the "tiny pen is man" super lifted trucks that shine light 5 feet off the ground at everyone... Sorry I'm aiming my light beam where I need it, and if that gets into your eyes, cry about it.

TimothyH

My experience is not consistent with your theories.


-Tim-

Machka 

Daylight is increasing!! We're up to 11 hours now from a low of 9 hours back in June.

kbarch

Your experience is perfectly consistent, I'm sure, you just haven't had any problems with it. That's great, but saying that the limited illumination of even the brightest LEDs renders daylight irrelevant is preposterous.

Headlights are directional. Daylight is ambient. Focused lights will only illuminate things they are directed at, and when there is no ambient light, everything beyond or peripheral is only less visible than before - things which would have been apparent under nominal ambient light, like that from the moon. For people who don't have to look toward them, flood lights alleviate that problem, but like any light source, they still essentially blind people directly facing them to anything beyond their beam spread, and to anything within that angle that they don't silhouette, all more or less to the extent they exceed ambient and other reflected light levels.

Zaskar

You are simply incorrect. I've logged about 30,000 miles in the dark. My club mates and I share the road with cars. They see us. We see them. And, no one is blinded by any of the lights.

A while back, I checked with a friend who's a meteorologist and with a friend who's a priest. Neither of them had any suggestions for getting the sun to rise at 5am to accommodate my schedule and those of my club mates. So, until we sort that out, we're going to keep using those headlights as a "substitute for daylight." ;-)