While out running well before daybreak a couple of days ago, I saw a local bike racer go spinning by. He was on a primary street, no flasher, and no reflectors that I could see. Thinking that he may not realize just how invisible he was, I posted a note (friendly, I thought) in the forum for our bike club. Late last night I received an e-mail from the rider telling me I should mind my own business; the note went downhill from there. No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.
It turns out I know who the kid is. He’s quite talented, and races a lot, so in all likelihood this was not the first time he has been out at “O dark-thirty.” Is my concern unreasonable? Are a lot of you on a bike in the dark like this?
Yes, but with a 15 watt headlight upfront, and flashing red LED’s in the back. Riding a bike in the dark without the aforementioned items is sillier than biking on busy streets without a helmet. Some people just don’t get it.
I have seen this to and I do not understand it at all. Very unsafe anyway you look at it.
I have ridden in the dark before under two circumstances 1) Commuting to/from work with head lights, tail lights, rear reflectors and reflective clothing. This was on well lit city streets. Never had a problem. 2) I used to do some bike training on a small loop in an industrial park area that was very well lit up with street lights. Again, I used head lights and tail lights.
However, for the most part when dark I would opt for a ride on the indoor trainer.
Where I live(southern Ontario) when it’s dark, it’s typically cold, so you spend a big chunk of time getting ALL the cold weather cycling gear on for, what - a 30 to 45 min ride. Just jump on the trainer.
Biking without lights or at least flashers is asking for an accident. I’m amazed on the bike path how often it’s my lights which illuminate a runner without a flasher or even reflectors. The stealth biker would be hitting them head on. Scary.
Mark, I love your quote. The day after Ironman several years ago Troy Sores was going for a run. Darrin Rohr was going for a run. Every body was running. We were going for coffee…
I ride in the dark almost every morning on the way to work and have my commuter bike set up with the following:
A twin headlight 50 watt high beam and 20 watt low beam.
Two Motorcycle LED tail lights mounted under my rack.
A 5 amp hour battery to run it all strapped up under my seat.
I wear:
Two red flashing LED lights
A Really bright reflective vest.
Reflective dots on my helmet.
I have never had a visability issue with cars. I have even been flashed by cars to turn down my high beam at times.
All my stuff adds about 15 lbs to my commuter bike but it sure makes weekend rides a pleasure when I get to go out on my regular bike without all of that stuff attached.
I knew a guy who was on a committee that wrote the model statute used by most of the states to regulate bike riders. He’s an engineer and had studied bike lighting safety issues. He rode a bike to and from work with a 5 inch red rear light and two huge white lights up front. He looked like a Christmas tree going down the street!
I am up at the crack of dawn every Tuesday for a hill climb up my local mountain. Started at 5:50, but it is getting later every week. Usually we wait until the sunlight starts creeping over the foothills (not dark, yet not light either), then we are off. We ride inside a state park, which is closed until sunrise, so the roads are totally empty with the exception of rangers who know there are cyclists up there.
I should probably get a rear light of some sort - maybe something that clips on to my jersey… The more I think about Tom’s friend, the more this makes sense to me.
I have just returned from living in Singapore where I did much of my biking in the dark. There is a regular Tuesday/Thursday roadie group that rides in the dark (the first time I did it it was a tropical downpoor for teh whole ride. A very bizarre experience). The roads are the best I have ever cycled on and there are lots of streetlights. So, riding in the dark in a pack is actually not bad on an occasional basis. Plus, it is cooler at night. Surprisingly, for one of the most law-abiding societies on earth (and one surely the one with the most laws about human behavior), the roadies in Singapore have no respect whatsoever for traffic lights, stop signs and other rules of the road. Also, most of the roadies don’t wear helmets, which is just plain stupid.
Hell yes that’s a reasonable concern. While I applaud his discipline in getting out there training (something I do myself), its hard enough to see a cyclist when they have all the right gear on. I can speak from experience this summer. In the car vs. cyclist arena the car ALWAYS wins, no matter who had the right of way. Good lights and reflective gear are expensive. But so is spending the rest of your life as a vegetable or in a wheel chair, if you make it through the wreck at all. He might have skills on par with a euro pro. But when the half-drunk, stubble-faced lunatic in the plumbing van trying to recover his coffee from the floor of the vehicle drifts right none of that will matter.
A few years ago, I finished a ride in Providence, RI and decided to take a 20 minute cooldown jaunt along the bikepath around dusk. Lost track of time and it was like someone turned off the lightswitch. After about 5 minutes of white-knuckle riding at 5-6 mph, I walked the darn thing back to the car.
Reply to the email and tell the dude that he should at least respect the feelings of the driver that is going to kill him. That person is going to have to live with unimaginable guilt for the rest of their lives. And just think what his demise will do for the rest of the cycling public in your area. For all the talk on this forum about bikes having the right to the road, it amazes me that we have cyclists (racing cyclists) that just thumb their nose at our cause.
If you want to be treated like a car, ACT like a car. I say call the cops on him, just like you would a motorist that was driving with no lights.
I recommend also getting a front light of some sort – a white led to be seen with (even if you don’t need it to see). Statistically you’re far more likely to get crunched by a car that didn’t see the front of you than by a car coming up behind you.
Reply to the email and tell the dude that he should at least
respect the feelings of the driver that is going to kill him.
Well put. As a driver, I like to think I’m about as cyclist-friendly as they come, and I’ve been given near heart attacks by cyclists (and pedestrians) in the dark, unilluminated (and dark unreflective clothing), who don’t realize how invisible they can be.
In Ontario, a bicycle is considered a vehicle for the purposes of the Highway Traffic Act. It specifies the safety requirments for bicycles. Included in this, (and I’m going from memeory here), are a rear brake capable of skidding the tyre on dry pavement, a bell, horn or gong, (my italics), and the requirements for reflective things, (wheel reflectors, pedal reflectors, front and rear size and colours of reflectors or lights, all that kind of stuff).
It is illegal for a motor vehicle dealer to sell a brand new or used vehicle, and certify it as safe, if it doesn’t meet appropriate standards. But there is absolutely no responsiblity for the bicycle manufacturers or bicycle retailers to ensure that a bicycle meets the requirements of the act, or at the very least inform the customer of the requirements of the Highway Traffic Act.
I understand that most of us don’t want pedal reflectors or wheel reflectors in our spokes, and to be fair, the HTA only requires the lighting/reflection on a bicycle ridden between dusk and dawn, but ignorance is curable, wilfull stupidity is fatal.
