difficulty in night riding

I'm atcually quite good at nighttime muni, with almost no visibility.
You llearn how to take a smoothe pace and feel whats under you as you
come along.

It works for me...

--
Catboy - I enjoy the taste of dirt!!!

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I think it varies very much between people depending on how much they
rely on sight for balance. I'm like you...much worse at night. A lot
of bike trials riders seem to like going for night rides. I've gone on
a couple and have been far less confident. This also explains why I'm
no good at balancing with my eyes closed.

Andrew

--
andrew_carter - Learning to unicycle...

*http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/andrew*
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For me it's worse at dusk than after dark. Something about the orange
glow of dusk makes me feel like I'm back in college abusing chemicals
again. (Not quite a flashback, mind you, though that might be fun
too.)

I'm ok on the road after dark; I've never ridden off-road after dark.
But I'm game to try.

--
munipsycho - Sometimes I fall down.

=====================
Yoopers on family: "Happy wife, happy life."

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-Little Bear

Imagine all the people
Riding on one wheel.
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munipsycho said:

*I've never ridden off-road after dark. But I'm game to try. *

Midnight Muni can be exhilirating if you're over your fear of the dark,
and/or riding in a familiar location. I have finished a couple rides a
bit later than planned and ended up doing the last mile or two of (fire
road) downhill in the pitch black. What a rush!

I have to listen to the crunching of the gravel beneath my tire to
ensure I stay on track... listening to the reflections of sound off the
surrounding trees... pedaling as fast as one can manage in complete
blindness is definitely fodder for the thrill-seeker in me!

The lack of light does not seem to bother me, so I can't relate to the
other posts... I dunno if it's a learned ability, or something
biological that allows one to balance without vision, but it definitely
gets easier each time I'm out riding in the dark / dusk.

--
maestro8 - Mad Scientists for World Domination

Those are my principles. If you don't like those, I have others. --
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for riding in the dark, try putting more weight on your pedals than on
your seat for unfamiliar terrain. it gets you tired more easily, but you
definitely won't fall off as much.

--
James_Potter - betcha can't stick it!
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I love riding at night - this time of year it's really nice out. I've
never had any problems dealing with regular road/sidewalk terrain
though.

Want an adrenaline rush? Glide down a pitch black hill... might be a
good idea if you know where the pothole are before hand...

Dave

--
fcwegnm0b - HammerTron

"You wanna go to Denny's"

"...Ahh, I'm already there....."
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I like riding at night--then again, I always ride on the west side bike
path in NYC, so I don't have to worry about cars. I ride with 4
lights--a white front light on my helmet, a red blinker on the back of
my helmet, a really bright white light mounted on the frame, and a
bright red blinker mounted in the rear of the frame. It is probably a
little silly, but I am more concerned about bike riders than I am about
the bike path, which I know pretty well now. The lights let people know
I'm coming--in many ways they serve the same purpose as helmets and
padding--I ride better when I'm less worried about hurting myself--the
lights take away any needless anguish about crashing into a speeding
Lance wanna-be and allow you to see the road in front of your tire,
which your eyes can see anyway because by the time you are a few feet
into a night ride, your eyes have adjusted to the darkness anyway...

Have fun! Riding at night totally rocks!

--
dogbowl - Falling to Dark Side of theUnicycle

All I want out of life is to be able to ride the unicycle while smoking
a cigar at the same time. Is that too much to ask for?
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The first thing I thought of after reading your post was the More Than
Human episode featuring Kris Holm (see http://tinyurl.com/9jmvj ). They
claimed that humans balance using a combination of our eyes and our
inner-ear accelerometers. When you remove the eyes (for example, when
the sun disappears), you must rely solely on your inner ear. One of the
test they did on the show was timing how long Kris could stand balanced
on one leg with his eyes closed. Anyone can try it. It is kind of
interesting that as soon as you close your eyes, the margin for error
seems much smaller (or at least it does for me).

Thought I haven't tried it, I imagine that riding in the dark is like
any other uni skill: practice makes it easier.

--
Nioate
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andrew_carter said:

*I think it varies very much between people depending on how much they
rely on sight for balance.

Andrew *

This message is totally true 4 me.In dusk I literally can not
unicycle.🙁

--
Uniwitold

Veni !Vidi !Mount ! ' Public does not perceive it reacts'. Greg
Harper.
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Bad tarmac is the worst thing for night riding, as it's really hard to
see the bumps in it. You get more used to it if you practice a lot in
the dark.

Once you get onto proper terrain and riding fast, you might want to buy
some lights.

I do night muni and night cokering quite a lot (most days in winter), I
use lumicycle lights http://www.lumicycle.co.uk which are great, but
*very* expensive. I justified them because I was saving a couple of quid
a day by commuting through the city on my coker rather than getting the
bus. There are lots of cheaper helmet mounted bike lights which are
still good enough to go night riding, there's a thread you can search
for about lights with loads listed.

Joe

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I've gone on a few rides at night and i like it because it isnt as humid
outside (where i live). I rode 4 miles last night on my 20" unicycle and
you just have concentrate more on watching for bumps and curbs.
Streetlights every block or so help too. All my night rides are in
familar or somewhat familiar terrians.

--
skate4flip - Almost level 4
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Night riding is dope. I don't ride much anymore though.maybe like 30
mins. A week. Its a real shame and I'm hoping to get on more.

Jon

--
chosen - For The Cause

formerly allthingsuni

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You could 'make yourself a set of lights'
(http://www.jeremyb.net/projects.html). Its not that hard to do and a
lot cheaper than buying a set from a bike shop. Don't bother with
anything less than 20W if you want to go offroad, 10 or 15W would be OK
on road.

--
TonyMelton - Cloud 9

The way to a man's heart is through his veins.
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I was out for half an hour last night, but the light wasn't a problem,
as at 10:30pm it is still really bright here.

It was a little darker in the woods, the tree roots, were a bit more of
a challenge, but I still had quite a lot of light.

I know what some of you are talking about the dusk thing, sometimes it
is easier when there is less light.

I don't have a problem on the tarmac at night when it is dark though,
just off road.

Innes

--
innes - Unicyclist
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TonyMelton said:

* Don't bother with anything less than 20W if you want to go offroad*

I made a 10W and a 5W light, they're fine off road. More might be nice,
but that means a bigger battery or shorter run times. If you make it
yorself its easy to change the bulbs over though, so get a selection and
see what works.
The main thing in DIY jobs is knowing that the sizes of MR11 and MR16
bulbs are strangely similar to 32mm and 40mm plastic plumbing
fittings.

John

--
johnhimsworth - Nullus Anxietas

What if the hokey cokey really is what it's all about?
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