PaulH

No temperature or time limits. I find rush hour rather pleasant riding, as cars then are either immobile or at walking speed for much of my route.

Korina

In the Before Times, when I had a commute, I had no problem riding to work in the winter dark, 6:30ish. It was quiet, except for the panicking ducks when I rode through the marsh, not much traffic on the four miles of highway between trail ends, and watching the sky getting lighter with approaching dawn over the hills to the east and reflecting on Humboldt Bay was gorgeous. Despite the cold, it's a beautiful ride. Going home around sunset sucked rocks; much more traffic and seven highway exits.

My cutoff time appears to be full dark; I once attended a meeting after work, and could have ridden home, but frankly I didn't and don't trust drivers in the dark, so I took the bus. Especially as, going home, I have to cross the highway to get to the trail (until 2022), and I much prefer being able to see them coming.

nel e nel

Having shifted to work from home during COVID, my commutes have now morphed into fitness rides. I often will get up and out of the house at 5 or 6am before anyone else gets up and I love it. Streets and MUPs are empty compared to my regular commute hour/daytime rides, and seeing the sunrise on the way home is always a treat.

As others have said, just use good lights. Thankfully I’m in a city with adequate street lights so my headlights are more to alert other folks on the road to my presence.

burritos

Gonna do my first 8PM bike home tonight. Charging my lights as we speak. I'm looking forward to it.

notthe1freeman

I love late night rides myself...no self induced curfew here

stoogehand

I bike to work for much of the same reason: It is 15 minutes to drive, and 25 to bike. So an extra 20 minutes each day to get the blood pumping? It's economical, among other things

Others mentioned good lights for the dark, and I agree it's a must. Cygolite Metro up front, Varia in the back. I haven't had the Varia for very long but I got used to it very quickly. Anyway, I see fewer cars when it is dark than during daylight rush hour. And the contrast from the lights at night make me impossible to ignore. Motorists tend to give me a wider berth when there is less traffic and I am conspicuously visible.

redmandarin

Not really because I have good lights and live in the city - later at night does tend to be safer imho than cramming through rush hour traffic.

RoadKill

No real specific cut off time for me but my cutoff is related to sunrise/sunset. Most of the Phoenix area is a nearly perfect N/S/E/W grid and there is a good amount of time where the sun can be rising or setting directly in line with the road. When this happens it can be a bunch of miles straight in to the very low sun if I time it wrong, I'm not confident that people with nasty dirty windshields will have any chance of seeing me in this situation. I make sure to leave home/work at a time when I won't be doing that, I'm good with daytime or dark.

rhm

This time of year my commute is dark morning and evening. As others have mentioned, traffic is lighter an hour or two after rush hour, and i like riding at night anyway, so no big deal. Good dynamo lighting ftw, reflective gear, especially ankle bands, i feel visible and safe, though I do choose my route carefully.

burritos

Ankle bands? What are those. Guess I'm going to have to google it. I have a front light. A tail red light. Then I hang a blinking white light on my backpack. And I wear a bright neon yellow windbreaker. I've been really enjoying the night rides. Traffic does seem to be 75% less than commute time.

rhm

Oh, yeah, just a simple piece of reflective tape sewed to a strip of cloth with some velcro...



The ones Jandd makes are especially good, see link below.

Good for keeping your trouser cuffs out of the chain (if you ride in trousers), but important because they're reflective. The way they move, with the motion of pedaling, makes it very clear to all observers that what they're seeing is a bicycle. Other lights, especially helmet lights, move less predictably and drivers have more trouble understanding them.

https://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRO...rap-reflective

burritos

Thank you! Just submitted an order for 2 pair. I get a little lazy about swapping out of my work pants to my biking pants and I was just thinking about how the straps can serve a dual purpose. Can't wait for traffic to get a load of my new swag.