Are You Afraid of the Dark?

How dark does it get where you cycle at night? Some of us travel mostly on lit city streets, others in sparsely lit suburbs, and others still along pitch black country roads. 

Last week I rode a good chunk of a 10 mile trip home in complete and utter pitch darkness. Even with my good LED headlight, I could only see a small part of the path ahead of me at a time, but eventually my eyes grew accustomed to the dark and I began to distinguish other clues. I went at a steady pace of about 12mph, which was sufficiently slow for me to recognise upcoming turns and obstacles on the road. A small fox trotted across my path once, crossing from one side of the meadows to another. I stopped and watched her wet fur glistening in my headlight beam, then continued on my way. At another point, a raccoon considered dashing to cross in front of me, but changed his mind and observed me from the side of the road as I cycled past him. I also encountered a few late-evening joggers and commuter cyclists, all of whom I was able to spot in advance at the speed I was going. Any faster though, and I don't think it would have been safe on that particular trail. Local cyclists are always ending up in hospitals from crashing into one of the gates and dividers that are placed there.

I know that randonneurs will go over 30mph on winding descents in the dark, but I am not there yet. Even as recently as last summer, I was terrified to cycle on winding unlit country roads in Maine and New Hampshire. But now I'd like to try it again.

I have LED headlights on most of my bicycles now, and the Co-Habitant has just updated his Pashley's stock lighting with the Supernova E3. The front and rear standlight features are on the dim side, but we think that is due to the bicycle's barely adequate 2.4W dynamo hub. When in motion, the lights are super-bright.

While good LED lighting is important, I think that cycling in the pitch dark also requires a certain degree of skill, as well as knowledge of your bicycle's handling and familiarity with local terrain. What's the darkest you're comfortable with when traveling by bicycle?

Posted in: lights