Night riding...

Absent Husband said:

Hi all,

Was driving home with my wife last night after movie & dinner (kids
being baby-sat at their aunt's - woohoo!!) at the late (for us!) time
of 10:45pm.

As I drove through the "Woolloongabba 5-ways" intersection (right next
to the Gabba cricket ground for non-BrisVegans), I saw a cyclist
(roadie) go powering passed.

He was dressed up in some pretty nice gear, but couldn't pick what sort
of bike it was (too dark!). He had a flashing rear led, but couldn't
see any front light to speak of...

Anyway - I think this was pretty silly (and let's face it - I know
everything!!). Although, can see the appeal with cooler night, and
relatively less traffic than during the day.

So - just wondering if many people venture out for a road ride in the
late PM, or if this guy is an exception and most think it is a
bad/unsafe/whatever idea??????

Cheers all,
Absent Husband

I regularly see people cycling (training) and running around UQ late at
night, I see cycle commuters late at night also. I also saw a lot of
this at the Gold Coast. They tend to stick to main streets where the
lighting is good, I think the fiveways is okay, but if he was heading
for the SE Fwy bike path I wouldn't be doing that late at night because
it'd be really easy to get trapped by some psycho killer people, I'd
take the main roads instead. Plus most of the really psycho drivers go
along the quiet back suburbs, they do 30 km/h over the speed limit out
the back of Rochedale etc, and I reckon you'd get killed pretty quick
cycling around there after dark.

T
--

______________________________________

Tamyka Bell, PhD Student
School of Human Movement Studies
The University Of Queensland
w: +61-7-33656105
m: +61-4-00782972
e: [email hidden]
______________________________________

"Absent Husband" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

Was driving home with my wife last night after movie & dinner (kids
being baby-sat at their aunt's - woohoo!!) at the late (for us!) time
of 10:45pm.

As I drove through the "Woolloongabba 5-ways" intersection (right next
to the Gabba cricket ground for non-BrisVegans), I saw a cyclist
(roadie) go powering passed.

He was dressed up in some pretty nice gear, but couldn't pick what sort
of bike it was (too dark!). He had a flashing rear led, but couldn't
see any front light to speak of...

Anyway - I think this was pretty silly (and let's face it - I know
everything!!). Although, can see the appeal with cooler night, and
relatively less traffic than during the day.

So - just wondering if many people venture out for a road ride in the
late PM, or if this guy is an exception and most think it is a
bad/unsafe/whatever idea??????

Cheers all,
Absent Husband

I do most of my riding at night, to the point where riding in the day time
seems strange. I use both a red and blue flashing light on the rear which
seems to calm most traffic on the road. On really late nights I try and
sneak back through town so the locals don't think I'm weird, (too late
maybe). I always take my MP3 player and if the music's good I barely notice
the distance. Much less traffic at night, starry skys like you wouldn't
believe and nice and cool. You end up with a moon-tan instead of a sun-tan.
One of my friends recently called me The Night Rider (from Mad Max).
I like to run in the late afternoons when the sun is below the tree line,
preferably on bush tracks.

Marty

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 at 02:13 GMT, Marty Wallace (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

"Absent Husband" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So - just wondering if many people venture out for a road ride in the
late PM, or if this guy is an exception and most think it is a
bad/unsafe/whatever idea??????

You're asking about road bikes aren't you? 'cause I do half my
_commuting_ at night.

Quoted message said:

I do most of my riding at night, to the point where riding in the day time
seems strange. I use both a red and blue flashing light on the rear which
seems to calm most traffic on the road. On really late nights I try and

Impersonating police? Quite an offence. Over the weekend, just coming
back into Lilydale from Warburton, some guy passes us on the left as
we are turning right into the station, and he lets a siren off. Of
course, it's just a couple of yobbos in a beat up old commodore, and
it would have been nice if real police were around...

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
cat ~/.signature
Electromagnetic pulse received (core dumped)

Like TimC I do a fair amount of commuting at night, but must admit that I rarely have as much fun as when I strap the halogens onto the mountain bike and take a quick lap around the local bike and mtb trails... There's a weird solidarity thing with the other few people out and about on those trails after 10pm! If my couch weren't so inviting and comfortable when I got home I'd get out in the evenings a lot more often...

"Absent Husband" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

So - just wondering if many people venture out for a road ride in the
late PM, or if this guy is an exception and most think it is a
bad/unsafe/whatever idea??????

Yes. Midnight training not out of the question..
Cooler, less cars, "different", fun..

It's almost certainly safer than my regular
peak-hour commute..

hippy

"Absent Husband" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

So - just wondering if many people venture out for a road ride in the
late PM, or if this guy is an exception and most think it is a
bad/unsafe/whatever idea??????

Yes. Midnight training not out of the question..
Cooler, less cars, "different", fun..

It's almost certainly safer than my regular
peak-hour commute..

hippy

TimC said:

Impersonating police? Quite an offence. Over the weekend, just coming
back into Lilydale from Warburton, some guy passes us on the left as
we are turning right into the station, and he lets a siren off. Of
course, it's just a couple of yobbos in a beat up old commodore, and
it would have been nice if real police were around...

We were going home at 2am the other week from a bush fire. Three guys in the
big fire truck and me and another guy behind in the light tanker. Guy coming
the other way on high beam didn't dim, even after a couple of flicks from
the truck. The guys in the truck turned on their blue/red flashing beacons.
Instant dim of lights by the other guy. Impersonating a fire truck? :-)

Theo

TimC said:

Impersonating police? Quite an offence. Over the weekend, just coming
back into Lilydale from Warburton, some guy passes us on the left as
we are turning right into the station, and he lets a siren off. Of
course, it's just a couple of yobbos in a beat up old commodore, and
it would have been nice if real police were around...

We were going home at 2am the other week from a bush fire. Three guys in the
big fire truck and me and another guy behind in the light tanker. Guy coming
the other way on high beam didn't dim, even after a couple of flicks from
the truck. The guys in the truck turned on their blue/red flashing beacons.
Instant dim of lights by the other guy. Impersonating a fire truck? :-)

Theo

I've done a fair bit of night riding in the last couple of years. My first ever night ride was at the Fellcrag 24 hour which scared the [censored] out of me. Then I actually bought myself a good set of lights (Marwi Nightpro - awesome light) and started riding a longer way home from work.

I actually found riding at night fairly safe, although you do really need good lights. I wouldn't spend less than $30 on a flasher and I think my lights were around the $250 mark (which is quite reasonable if you ask me!).

My night ride used to take me from the city, along the Coro drive bikway, through UQ, down the back of Indooroopilly, across the bridge, down Oxley Road, Sherwood Road, Ipswich Road, Granard Road, Beaudesert Road, Compton Road (there used to be a really scary bit going through Karawatha Forest there, but it's being upgraded now that I no longer use it), then through a few dark streets in dodgyville...

I always found it very relaxing to ride in the evening, and it feels like you are going a whole lot faster than you actually are.

Enough rambling. In all, night riding is quite safe if you have decent lights.

"hippy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

"Absent Husband" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

So - just wondering if many people venture out for a road ride in the
late PM, or if this guy is an exception and most think it is a
bad/unsafe/whatever idea??????

Yes. Midnight training not out of the question..
Cooler, less cars, "different", fun..

It's almost certainly safer than my regular
peak-hour commute..

With no front light?

--

A: Top-posters.
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"DRS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"hippy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

"Absent Husband" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

So - just wondering if many people venture out for a road ride in the
late PM, or if this guy is an exception and most think it is a
bad/unsafe/whatever idea??????

Yes. Midnight training not out of the question..
Cooler, less cars, "different", fun..

It's almost certainly safer than my regular
peak-hour commute..

With no front light?

Actually even without a front light it's still probably
safer. There are a LOT less cars and because they
have lights on I can see them earlier (so I can run
all those reds much more safely!).

You 'know' I didn't mean 'with no front light' DRS. :-P

hippy

"Theo Bekkers" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

TimC said:

Impersonating police? Quite an offence. Over the weekend, just coming
back into Lilydale from Warburton, some guy passes us on the left as
we are turning right into the station, and he lets a siren off. Of
course, it's just a couple of yobbos in a beat up old commodore, and
it would have been nice if real police were around...

We were going home at 2am the other week from a bush fire. Three guys in

the

Quoted message said:

big fire truck and me and another guy behind in the light tanker. Guy

coming

Quoted message said:

the other way on high beam didn't dim, even after a couple of flicks from
the truck. The guys in the truck turned on their blue/red flashing

beacons.

Quoted message said:

Instant dim of lights by the other guy. Impersonating a fire truck? :-)

Theo

Last year there was a bush fire near my place and I saw a police car with
lights flashing slowly driving along the street in thick smoke looking for
spot fires on peoples front lawns. A four wheel drive fire brigade vehicle
was right up his backside waiting to overtake. All of a sudden the cop sees
something, so he stops, chucks it into reverse, and bangs straight into the
four wheel drive. I caught the series of shots on my camera but haven't
shown it to anyone to save embarrassment to all concerned. Hilariously funny
though.

Marty

LotteBum said:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

My night ride used to take me from the city, along the Coro drive
bikway, through UQ, down the back of Indooroopilly, across the bridge,
down Oxley Road, Sherwood Road, Ipswich Road, Granard Road, Beaudesert
Road, Compton Road (there used to be a really scary bit going through
Karawatha Forest there, but it's being upgraded now that I no longer
use it), then through a few dark streets in dodgyville...

<snip>

Interesting ride. How are Granard, Beaudesert and Compton roads then and
at other times of day? When I ride to uni from Eight Mile Plains, I head
along Logan into the city, but I could go that way also, up
Padstow/McCulloch/Boundary and onto Beaudesert, etc. I was a bit worried
about trucks going that way.

Aside from that, I went running at Karawatha on the weekend, got lost
but found my way sooner or later (it happens when you bush bash with no
compass or map) - wasn't too worried because there's always the backup
plan of walking towards the traffic - but do you know anywhere to pick
up a map showing the trails in there?

Tamyka

Hmmmm - would seem that I was to quick to scoff mockingly at the guy
riding in the late evening cool....

I'm up for anything once (well, most things...), so I might have to
give it a shot and see how I go. Only front light I've got though, is a
flashing LED (although I'd only be riding on well-lit main roads)... Do
people think that that is enough?? Or should I shell out for a "real"
front light that is designed to 'see things' (rather than just an "I am
here!!" warning light)??

Absent Husband

"Absent Husband" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

I'm up for anything once (well, most things...), so I might have to
give it a shot and see how I go. Only front light I've got though, is a
flashing LED (although I'd only be riding on well-lit main roads)... Do
people think that that is enough?? Or should I shell out for a "real"
front light that is designed to 'see things' (rather than just an "I am
here!!" warning light)??

If it really is well-lit a 'good' flasher should be fine.
Bigger lighting is more fun to scare drivers with though ;-)

hippy

I used to commute from Eight Mile Plains (Warrigal Rd) out to both QUT
and UQ during my (long ago) Uni days. Used my old Giant hybrid, and
took the SE Freeway bikepaths into the city, then flicked over to the
Coro Drive bikeway. Was always a great ride that kept me in much better
shape than I am now 😉

I think I'd be a little freaked out by the trucks along
McCulloch/Boundary/Beadusert/Ipswich Rds - very unforgiving when they
side swipe you after a 12-hour straight drive from goodness knows
where!!

Cheers,
Absent husband

Absent Husband said:

I used to commute from Eight Mile Plains (Warrigal Rd) out to both QUT
and UQ during my (long ago) Uni days. Used my old Giant hybrid, and
took the SE Freeway bikepaths into the city, then flicked over to the
Coro Drive bikeway. Was always a great ride that kept me in much better
shape than I am now 😉

I think I'd be a little freaked out by the trucks along
McCulloch/Boundary/Beadusert/Ipswich Rds - very unforgiving when they
side swipe you after a 12-hour straight drive from goodness knows
where!!

Cheers,
Absent husband

Yeah, to get onto the SE Fwy Bikeway I have to use Mains Rd - which way
from Warrigal to Mains did you go - I tried the end of Malbon St through
Granadilla Park and up the back way to lights at Mains but even though
theres a 24 hr T2 that's a T3 in peak hour (or something like that) I
still nearly got killed there and found Logan Rd safer to deal
with...ideas?

T

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>> "Absent" == Absent Husband <[email hidden]> writes:

Absent> I'm up for anything once (well, most things...), so I might
Absent> have to give it a shot and see how I go. Only front light
Absent> I've got though, is a flashing LED (although I'd only be
Absent> riding on well-lit main roads)... Do people think that that
Absent> is enough?? Or should I shell out for a "real" front light
Absent> that is designed to 'see things' (rather than just an "I am
Absent> here!!" warning light)??

I use both. I've a Cat Eye flasher which I call my "look look, bike
coming!" light and a NiteFlux so I can see where I'm going.

Might just be me but a flashing light tends to attract the eye more than
a steady state one.
--
Cheers
Euan

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>> "Absent" == Absent Husband <[email hidden]> writes:

Absent> Hi all, Was driving home with my wife last night after movie
Absent> & dinner (kids being baby-sat at their aunt's - woohoo!!) at
Absent> the late (for us!) time of 10:45pm.

Fortunately not regularly but I have in the past commuted to work at
22:00 and commuted back at 04:00 by bicycle. About the only ``dodgy''
thing was a late night reveler expressing admiration of my Lycra
encased legs (it was winter, it was cold).

He must have been REALLY drunk.
--
Cheers
Euan