Aside from wheels staying in one piece and the frame holding together, the thing we take most for granted when riding a bike is how our bodies instinctively respond to and absorb bumps. The human body is, in fact, an incredible shock-absorber; our arms and legs are capable of flexing and shifting in ways that no mechanical suspension is capable of and reacts at near-instantaneous speed to the intelligence streaming in from the ocular system. Remove the power of sight from the equation and the effect is staggering.
My first encounter with night riding was during a 24-hour mountainbike race in Minnesota. Until that race, I had taken care to always ride during the day, partly because I couldn’t afford a reasonable headlight and partly because I could always arrange my training to take place during daylight. A 24-hour race, however, held distinct implications for nighttime riding.
I never bothered practicing riding at night, and I didn’t bother with buying a proper headlamp. Instead, I recommissioned my semi-reliable headlight which I used for nordic ski training in the dark winter months. The week before had also seen the decommissioning of my first-generation Rock Shox which had always graced the front-end of my beloved Schwinn mountainbike, made of what I assume were sand-filled tubes. I didn’t maintain the shock the way a shock should be maintained, and with its death came the rebirth of the fixed fork that had originally steered the machine.
I don’t need to go into detail on the race, but suffice to say that my headlamp stopped functioning within minutes on the first nighttime lap and that I rode the remainder of the race by the light of the moon and my insufficient instincts. Climbing was unpleasant, flats were uncomfortable, and descents were a blend of suicide and anarchy. Each bump the front wheel found blew through my unprepared arms and cascaded through my body, usually focussed on the saddle which ungracefully found its way to my crotch whether I was sitting on it at the time or not.
With this induction into the dark art of night riding, it has been something I’ve typically done with some reluctance. In other words, I’ve avoided it like the plague. Living in Seattle and having the privilege of a fulltime job does have certain ramifications on riding in daylight hours in Winter; namely that it isn’t possible. With the introduction of a good headlight comes the surreal solidarity of riding cocooned in a cone of light. The shorted line of sight together with the elimination of one’s peripheral vision has an inexplicable calming effect despite the sense that you can’t properly judge the bumps in the road as your headlight briefly illuminates them, and that every puddle looks like a small lake whose depth cannot be judged until you’re on top of it.
I’ve ridden with a Mammut Zoom headlamp and a Lezyne Super Drive, both of which served the purpose of making nighttime riding slightly less terrifying. But with my new 45km commute, I moved to the Lezyne Mega Drive, which is basically a car headlight refactored to fit on a handlebar. I heard that the lights in small villages dim when I turn it to full power and I’ve noticed that deer come running towards it when I ride by with the mistaken belief that it signals the arrival of a deity.
Never one for half-measures, I still mount the Super Drive on the helmet and the Mega Drive on the bars; its like riding with the Eye of Sauron on your bike. Oh, and I have three different red flashers on the back of the bike and another white flasher on the front. You know, just in case.
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@frank the problem with people who run super-strength lights is that most of them definitely do not have them pointed down - and even then, they are still overly bright - messing with drivers' vision (yes, 1000 lumens is way too bright - 300 is plenty, even on dark country roads) and completely fucking other riders' ability to see anything other than a blinding light.
And don't get me started on the arseholes who use flashers on the front. They are excellent for making on-coming riders see nothing but spots for the next few moments of their ride...
Your main problem at night is getting hit from behind, so light up the rear with as many as you want - but no need for something on the front that could spotlight a Lancaster bomber at 20,000 feet.
@Oli I kept waiting for a Wolfman to appear in this story...
@Marcus Serfas 75 lumens (mid-mode) has worked well for me. We ride a 4k circuit with some sprint points and one rider in particular has a light that is referred to as the Freight Train. He can never get the jump on us in a sprint, because he is signaling his approach from way back. Although I do agree that a piercing strong light is good for the rider's safety.
@Marcus Serfas 150 lumens is what I realized I have been using. No battery source to mount. Rechargeable USB.
Frank, I just bought a lezyne micro for the front. Useful for the pre-dawn starts out here. I loves me a usb recharge, no cables.
@Oli
Oh the nicad batteries that went from 100% to zero in two seconds. Fantastic stuff.
Years back I somehow ended up a weekend arriving home by ferry which docked after dark. The good news was my ride home was also my commute road so I knew it completely. The sort of bad news was I had no light and it was a rural road. No street lamps, businesses and that night, no moon. So I bombed the 12km home by a bit of starlight and autopilot. If a car came I just pulled way off the road and then resumed. It was the best. Of course had a possum or rabid racoon been out I would have been doomed.
@unversio
Ha! I kept expecting him to say the pervert turned out to be @brett!
@Oli
Great story! My headlight in the 24 hour race was also nickel-cadmium and the battery was geting on in age. If memory serves, it was doing fine in tests and I even charged it all day, but its charge only lasted a moment and never dimmed, never flickered, just turned off.
Good times.
@Marcus
I suggest you fight the temptation to stare at the light, despite its hypnotic effect. You're not a fucking deer, are you?
Go back to New Zealand.
By the way, you should also not stare at the sun for too long, in case no one has told you yet.
@The Oracle
We used to do a lot of lightless skiing on moonlight nights; there are few things as glorious as the bright bluish light of the moon on nordic ski trails at night.
The big shocker was the time I rounded a bend on a Northeast Minnesota trail to a moose standing in the middle of the trail, no doubt enjoying the same effect of the light.
Mooses (meese?) are fucking gigantic, by the by.
@Oli
Hit once. Wasn't so bad. Managed not to fall over. Fucker made eye contact with me and didn't stop though. I attempted to give chase but they sped way up so I couldn't catch them. Not sure what I would have done had they stopped.
Oh, you wanted good stories!
Well, one time I was hill climbing after dark and passed some rule-defying wanker in a dotty jersey... wait wait, that's not it either.
OK, for reals this time. This past summer I was out after work and decided to go ride some dirt and gravel in a "nature" area up on top of an extinct volcano on my road bike.
I was fucking around, taking landscape photos, not really paying attention that it was starting to get dark quickly. I then couldn't figure out the right way to get down, as not all paths are bike-able without a mountain bike, and had to backtrack a few times.
So I finally wound up going down what was basically single-track on my road bike at dusk, without lights. Almost got bounced off a few times hitting ruts and crap I couldn't see. But I made it back out the the road in one piece no worse for wear.
OK, that wasn't such a great story either.
There was a brand new fairly rural rails-to-trails path out behind my college campus. It was a fun place to ride on a moonlight night, especially under the influence of certain chemicals. Don't think I used a light, either.