I rather enjoy riding at night. Perhaps I should rephrase that a bit. I enjoy being able to ride at night. You see, I enjoy riding. I enjoy riding for exercise, pleasure, and utility. I work a job. Our planet has a tilt. Combine those facts and one finds that about half of the year will involve a bit of nighttime riding.
One of the first discoveries I made about nighttime cycling was the need for lighting. When I first tried this, as a young adult, I found it nearly impossible to go anywhere in the dark. It was insanely dangerous. At the time, bicycle lighting systems were woefully inadequate. There were only two choices. One either used a dim bulb, powered (for a very short while) by clunky, low output, lead-acid D-cells, or one purchased and installed a generator system. Neither of these approaches was particularly satisfactory.
Go back about twenty years. Suddenly there were some serious choices available to the night riding cyclist. Better batteries and stronger bulbs, combined with good optics made the act of night riding a lot more pleasant. Of course, there was still a somewhat unpalatable choice involved. Choice one, spend a goodly amount of money, on a halfway decent lightset. This allowed nighttime riding, but was still somewhat limiting. Choice two, commit a major amount of cash, a procuring a really powerful set. These high-end sets worked wonderfully, but… Well, they were powerful, but they were still fairly heavy, and they didn’t have a lot of useful runtime.
Over time, things gradually improved. And very recently, they have improved dramatically. Advances in LED and battery technology have resulted in truly astonishing equipment. Suddenly one can purchase systems that deliver outstanding power, for reasonably long periods of time. More, these new systems are extremely lightweight, and are priced well below the “Omigosh! Point.”
I have been finding a completely unlooked for benefit to the newest super-bright LED systems. They are bright enough to command respect from motorists and golf cart operators. In both cases the operators of an oncoming vehicle do not know what the cyclist is, but they do know that it’s bright! The slow down and dim headlights. Cool.
A related topic: I love Christmas light displays. It’s wonderful to see these brilliant displays shining out in the chilly nights of early Winter. How much better to “show a light, than to curse the darkness!” I love them all, from the modest and extremely tasteful, to the full-on, garish, if-it’s-stationary-put-a-light-on-it! type of display.
I often ride home, and at this time of year, do not arrive until well after dark. It’s somehow warming and uplifting to turn into my neighborhood, and see the lights shining brightly. It’s as if they are extending a beacon, and a welcome.
It’s even more cheering at the other end of the day. Most folks shut their displays down sometime during the night. But others choose to let their lights shine through all the hours of the night. I’m thankful for these. On a cold and tired morning, it’s a lift to see those few displays glittering against the dark.
Over the years, I’ve heard from a lot of “civilians,” that we cyclists have a similar effect. There are a few (not many) regular night group rides. Again and again, I’ve heard folks say something like, “I don’t know who they are, but I see this group of folks riding their bicycles along in the night, all lit up. They are so bright and colorful. It’s wonderful to see! We’ll see them as we are sitting down for the evening. It makes me happy.”
So, strike your lights and keep ‘em burning!
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