Interesting you bring this up. I have commuted to work by bike Monday through Thursday in the dark and wet, I work hard to be visible (ligths fore and aft, yellow reflective rain slicker, helmet light etc..) and am astounded by the number of cyclist who ride after dark with little or no lighting and dark clothing, I nearly ran into a guy on the bike path last night because he was basically invisible until he was 15 feet from me.
Ironically after arriving home last night - soaked for the 3rd night in a row- on a bike with lots of creaks and groans, I decided ENOUGH! tomorrow I am riding the bus and this weekend I "dry dock? the bike for some TLC. So of course its relatively nice and definitely dry out today ;-). My own rule of the thumb, requested by my wife, is to avoid riding if its wet out and under 40 degrees. Ok people in the Midwest and East can laugh but here in mild Seattle its often wet and even at 40 degrees painted road lines, grates etc can get incredibly slick. And the amount of time that both conditions apply is a fairly small portion of the year. I do wish that more people who ride at night had the sensibility/ awareness/courtesy to make themselves more visible. I feel horrible for the family of the cyclist and the motorist for the accident described above. Will lights and vests and reflective clothing make us all 100% safe, of course not, but IMHO doing without is just courting disaster. Ride Safe fellow Velos R On Dec 10, 6:08 am, jim phillips <thefamil...@hotmail.com> wrote: > I have great admiration for all of you who can ride in those kinds of > conditions. But, I do feel that safety has to always be an over riding > consideration. > > best, > > JimP > > > Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 05:13:26 -0800 > > Subject: [RBW] Re: Brave, Foolish, or maybe necessary? > > From: joelmatth...@mac.com > > To: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com > > > I do not have a car, so am often tempted to ride the bike when and > > where conditions are less than optimal. Over the years I have had > > enough close calls that when things get really bad I either take mass > > transit, a taxi, walk or stay put. > > > I want to enjoy cycling, not endure. > > > On Dec 10, 7:00 am, MichaelH <mhech...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > I live in northern Vt, one ride below the 45th parallel. I'm 6 miles > > > down the road to the nearest shops and services. Sunset, this time of > > > year is around 4:30 and until the big lakes freeze over, the weather > > > tends to be cloudy and snowy. With the moon in its last quarter its > > > very dark, very early. > > > > It has snowed slowly and steadily through the week, leaving about 15" > > > of snow cover and the road shoulders with an inch or two of packed and > > > loose snow. The skies started to clear a bit yesterday and the temps > > > dropped , +14 at sundown and -10 by sunrise this morning. > > > > I headed into town at 5:00, in my car and drove down an unlit country > > > road, passing a nearly steady stream of commuters headed home up the > > > road. Suddenly I saw a very bright bicycle light coming up the road. > > > As I passed him (her?) I saw that the tail light was just avg. > > > > My first thought was, wow that takes some guts, but my second thought > > > was that's more risk than I would ever want to take on a bicycle, and > > > my third thought was I don't mind riding in the dark; I don't mind > > > riding in the cold; and I don't mind riding in the wet. But that much > > > cold, dark, wet and risk all at the same time is something I wouldn't > > > choose to do, unless it was absolutely necessary. > > > > What do you think? > > > > Michael > > > on a gloriously beautiful morning > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
