Tips for night riding

lennymc

couldnt find any threads with specific tips for riding at night, so apologies if there is one allready.

Ill be doing a charity spin in a little over a week, and there will be a night portion on the spin. It will be about 2 hours on a mixture of R roads and N roads. There will be approx 10 of us, with a car in front and a van behind.

Does anyone have any tips for night riding? It will be close enough to midnight and they will be unlit country roads.

Any tips or comments would be great!

Thanks,
Lenny

titanan

Biggest danger there that I could see would be van behind, cars overtaking from behind tend to return quick to their own lane so there would be a danger of a sideswipe.

Best to have the van travel well behind you that others coming from your rear have plenty of time to see and react to you.

Normal lights on your bike should be sufficient although a second forward facing light attached to your forks can help show the contours and potholes in the road.

Be especially alert to the dangers of anybody riding beside you Talking and Jack the ladding himself (every group has one) for the dangers are greater at night from someone being startled by Badgers,rats,Rabbits etc and steering into you.

Hope this helps

cdaly_

Might be better to have the van in front and the car behind. The van will keep oncoming traffic on its own side of the road while the car won't hide the cyclists so much.

When we did the Cuchulain CC midsummer night cycle, we had a car behind the group with nothing in front. Car's headlights on high beam to assist in lighting the way but it was essential to have a good lamp on the handlebars also.

Keeping a tight group with extra vigilance in calling obstructions / holes will probably help.

Lumen

Stick an orange flasher on the roof of the follow car, drive with hazards on, and stay close to the riders, slightly offset to the right to act as a physical barrier.

Make sure all the riders can cycle safely in a group. Running them over after a crash would be poor form.

Don't worry about obscuring the cyclists, any vehicle coming up behind will slow down when they see all the flashing lights.

I assume the front vehicle will be navigating.

Roger Hassenforder

eat plenty of carrots between now and then!:D

granda

i'm doing this as well and i'm going with 'close my eyes and hope for the best'
if your interested lenny i'm probably gonna head out on sunday and cycle i bit in the dark on roads i know so your welcome to come along if you want

blorg

You will want good front lights to see the road. If you have good front lights there is no problem night riding even without support vehicles. The issue with group night riding is arranging the lights so they don't blind others (in particular, no rear blinkies.)

Beasty

blorg wrote: »

You will want good front lights to see the road. If you have good front lights there is no problem night riding even without support vehicles.

Definitely +1 on this - I commute on unlit country roads through the winter, and decent front lights make a big difference, particularly given the current state of Ireland's roads

stevie_b

Always, always, Keep your scanners peeled.

tomasrojo

blorg wrote: »

The issue with group night riding is arranging the lights so they don't blind others (in particular, no rear blinkies.)

The Smart 1W has a good setting for this; you can set it to show the two small subsidiary LEDs alone and with no flash.

feck sake lads

lenny i done some night riding on my touring bike solo ,riding in a group can be dodgy as in you cant ride close behind the rider in front ,and very strong tail lights can dazzle the rider behind bit like a fog light on a car:eek:, but every rider is going to need good front lights high viz jackets .remember country roads are pitch black so be seen;)

Jawgap

Did the Mid-summer century ride that @cdaly mentioned. The biggest problem I found was in the the middle of the group - if the guy / gal in front of you has a blinding rear light it screws up your night vision.

When the group is being set up - everyone should have good front lights, but dim their rear lights unless they're at the back of the group. Obviously, if things are going to be a bit fluid with people moving to the front to do some work you may need to ignore this advice.

Bugsy2000

lennymc wrote: »

........couldnt find any threads with specific tips for riding at night, so apologies if there is one allready................

There was this thread here on night riding

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056367432

glic71rods46t0

Lumen wrote: »

Stick an orange flasher on the roof of the follow car, drive with hazards on, and stay close to the riders, slightly offset to the right to act as a physical barrier.

Make sure all the riders can cycle safely in a group. Running them over after a crash would be poor form.

Don't worry about obscuring the cyclists, any vehicle coming up behind will slow down when they see all the flashing lights.

I assume the front vehicle will be navigating.

I know its not popular on this forum to point out rules, regulations and legislation but...
Not very good advice for the car drivers who could well be found guilty of offences including careless driving and/or driving without due consideration for other road users. Driving with hazard lights on is illegal and again can be construed to be driving without due consideration for other road users as other drivers are unable to ascertain the intentions of the driver of such a vehicle.
"Slightly offset to the right to act as a physical barrier" is also illegal as all vehicles are required to drive on the left side of the road.

I have no problem overtaking a rear car (offset to the right or not) and making room for myself in these circumstances as well as using my dashboard camera recordings as the basis for reporting carelss/illegal driving by such support cars.

cdaly_

Oh don't be silly.

qtlzo8api0gebv wrote: »

I have no problem overtaking a rear car (offset to the right or not) and making room for myself in these circumstances as well as using my dashboard camera recordings as the basis for reporting carelss/illegal driving by such support cars.

In particular, don't be so silly as to announce your intention to drive in a dangerous manner on a public message board...

glic71rods46t0

cdaly_ wrote: »

Oh don't be silly.



In particular, don't be so silly as to announce your intention to drive in a dangerous manner on a public message board...

I guess you meant your reply for Lumen - it was his post that was full of silly stuff;)

Don't worry, I dont do dangerous driving and I keep a dashboard camera to highlight others. Oh, and dont worry about the public message board, its quite anonymous unless you are silly enough to post with your own name:eek: . You won't frind too many Mr Fencers in real life though I think there are a few Daly characters out there;)

Lumen

qtlzo8api0gebv wrote: »

Not very good advice

Indeed.

Eamonnator

I reckon, that you won't "frind too many Mr Fencers" anywhere.

glic71rods46t0

Lumen wrote: »

Indeed.

It would probably be best if you clarified your position regarding your previous post as some people may take the advice you gave in that previous post and end up in trouble!
It would be nice to have a charter rule that disallowed posts giving advice which amounts to illegal behaviour:eek:

Lumen

qtlzo8api0gebv wrote: »

some people may take the advice you gave in that previous post and end up in trouble!

Chips Lovell

Fencer banned for general and repeated trollerisation.

lennymc

granda wrote: »

i'm doing this as well and i'm going with 'close my eyes and hope for the best'
if your interested lenny i'm probably gonna head out on sunday and cycle i bit in the dark on roads i know so your welcome to come along if you want

granda, i might take you up on this. I havent cycled in the dark for years

Thanks everyone for your advice!!

ling-zing

Beasty wrote: »

Definitely +1 on this - I commute on unlit country roads through the winter, and decent front lights make a big difference, particularly given the current state of Ireland's roads

any recommendations for good front lights for unlit roads,i've had led lights before but i think there were only 5 led and not too good, double that might do

Lumen

ling-zing wrote: »

any recommendations for good front lights for unlit roads,i've had led lights before but i think there were only 5 led and not too good, double that might do

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055705708

Just don't ask for a summary. :pac:

blorg

Fenix TK11.

granda

lennymc wrote: »

granda, i might take you up on this. I havent cycled in the dark for years

Thanks everyone for your advice!!

i'll give you a ring later about the relay so we can sort something out then

feck sake lads

granda wrote: »

i'll give you a ring later about the relay so we can sort something out then

what time is yourself and lenny going out tonight time place route please i might join yizz, if i can get rid of this bloody crik in my neck.:mad: