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For idiots only - riding at night without lights
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A non-idiot
If you’re smart enough to put lights on your bike (and use them) when you’re on the road after dark, no need to continue reading. This column is strictly for night-riding idiots – those who either think a few reflectors are an adequate substitute for lights or who are in fact stupid.
Early March in the metro area has been a pleasant surprise, for the most part. Warm pre-spring days are what every cyclist dreams of, but up against the Front Range, quite often warm days come bundled with every cyclist’s nightmare – strong winds. I’m always amused (or pretend to be) whenever a friend or family member gushes about how beautiful my bike ride must have been on an unnaturally warm March day. If that day was windy (which to me means average wind speed of 20 mph or more), the joy quotient was singularly lacking (rare are those opportunities when someone can be beguiled into picking you up 40 miles downwind from your starting point).
Yesterday (Tuesday March 3) was a great example of the conundrum. The temperature touched 70 degrees by mid-afternoon, but the wind blew a pretty steady 20 mph for most of the day, dropping down to 5 mph by 6:30 pm for a brief time then barreling back to 25 mph for the rest of the evening.
I was in Boulder after dark, running errands, when I noticed a cyclist come blasting out of a convenience store parking lot, with nary a light on his bike. He cruised happily up one of the city’s many on-street bike lanes, a few tiny reflectors on his shoes the only indication he was there. I marveled. Why would anyone want to be unseen by hundreds of vehicles to whom he would lose convincingly should contact ensue? My juices flowing, I staid alert to other bicycles. Due in no small part to the beautiful day and evening (measured by temperature if not by wind-speed), there were more than a few cyclists out that evening. I counted six in total. Of the six, three had wonderful lighting systems, not only providing a clear indication from the rear that there was some type of vehicle ahead, but also throwing plenty of light out front to aid the riders in recognizing and avoiding pot holes and other road hazards that can be just as problematic as automobiles to bicyclists.
One of the cyclists had lights front and back, but the rear light was pathetic, so dim as to be unnoticed from 50 or more feet back. To make sure the unusually dim light was even more ineffective, the young woman had mounted it to the right of her rear wheel, thereby making it even more difficult to be seen by any motorist overtaking on her left hand side (i.e. almost everyone).
In addition to the first clueless rider I saw that evening, another 2-wheel commuter sans lighting entered my field of view. I did not notice him because of his impressive reflector collection, but rather because I was purposely on the lookout for cyclists. He, too, was merrily wending his way on city streets without a light, care in the world, or apparently, brain in his head.
Why do I care? If someone wants to ride lightless (or underlit) and risk his or her life and limb, what difference does that make to me or you? The only reason I care is because it gives drivers one more reason to hate us. Many drivers who see such careless, actually wantonly reckless, behavior by a bicyclist will not just dismiss it as some idiot’s poor decision-making, but will process this behavior as another example of why bicycles should not be allowed on the same roads with them and help justify their own antagonism to the rest of us. The bottom line is it makes me very angry when other cyclists are willing to risk my future safety by acting irresponsibly.
Night riding is one of the great joys of bicycling. But if you do it without lights, you’re an idiot. I’m absolutely sure that those of you who do use lights and therefore took my advice in sentence one (thereby not reading this) agree with me completely.
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