I wanna try doing this some day
(By overnight I mean set off in the evening (well rested) and cycle until the morning)
I haven’t; however I do shorter night rides in the country (mountain valleys mainly) sometimes (2 hours max).
The problems I noted :
- I need to be cautious all the time, even with a strong light, when going at or above 30 km/h (18 mph), I discover obstacles very late: we cannot see in the distance or on the side, all the things that we usually register without truly paying attention, effortlessly;
- despite this and the fact that I ride roads I know by heart, I regularly hit holes and all sorts of other road defects that I would almost never hit in day time; small (but dangerous) things like a spray (?) of gravels over the asphalt basically never can be spotted;
- talking about obstacles, some of them literally jump at you: I meet a lot more animals at night that at day time; a few of them freeze in the light right in front of you (fox cubs, I am thinking of you);
- I found maintaining the constant attention very tiring for the eyes and the brain: despite the lack of sun, I get that feeling of sore eyes / face skin quickly (it seems to get less true with experience repetition, though, but perhaps it is just because my level of attention decreased too);
- it also tends to give me a stiff neck because said attention is always directed forwards : when speeding a bit, a glimpse down at your stuff (bike computer, bottle, gears, etc.) means missing a whole frame of potential danger, and of course there is almost no landscape to look at on the sides because well, outside of the small area I light, everything is dark; on top of that, since I discover obstacles late, as soon as the roads goes a little bit downwards, I tend to stay with my hands on the lower bar (road bike) to be able to break or better handle the bike if I need quick reaction; so, all together, my neck is always bent ‘backwards’ to look forward; in that respect, I reckon it would be easier to use a bike that is not a road bike, the position would be more upright and watching forwards would be more natural;
- one last thing: city (or village) street lights are fine for a pedestrian, but when riding a bicycle, I found them terrible, it gives the same lighting atmosphere as this type of twilight when you can’t see anything clearly (I don’t know how to say in English, we say ‘between dog and wolf’ to describe that confusing kind of crepuscular light where there is still a bit of light, but you can’t tell a thing from another) but with extra lighting irregularity on top of it, while rendering your bike light useless.
Overall, my personal experience is quite opposite to the experiences I had read before: not so much peace and relaxation for me. Except when going up, when my speed is low, but then this is switching to another kind of suffering :-D
PS: ah, and there is also the question of clothing. I found it rather difficult to judge what to wear when leaving home; the cold of the night (and the temperatures which will probably drop as time goes) versus the heat of the effort. On the other hand, I only practice leisure cycling, which means that before I started riding a bit at night, I could almost always pick the day and generally the time of my rides, so that they were all sunny and dry and warm(ish) or hot, and I would typically go with a just a jersey (simply adding a vest for the morning start of 10-12 hours rides); someone who commutes or trains for competition is already used to plan for riding in shitty and changing weather & temperature conditions.
Thanks for these points, they are very useful to know
I used to work with a guy that did this - rode overnight for about 12 hours to meet his friends at the beach. He told me it was really peaceful especially riding through small towns around 2-4am.
Yes, I think it must be a wonderful feeling
Sounds awesome. I’ve done full moon rides where you specifically start after dark, but not a full overnight
Sounds dangerous, would this be on the road or on a trail?
On one hand, car would more likely to speed at night making it more dangerous. On the other hand, if you have good lighting and wear retroreflective clothing you’re gonna shine like a beacon, making it safer.
About cars, my experience (in the country/mountain) is :
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there are way way fewer cars at night; on small roads (small but not single lane), it is not unusual for me to ride 5 miles or 10 km and meet 0 or 1 car; of course it depends on the road (mostly), the day of the week and so on;
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there’s something happening with night traffic: my theory is that the fact that drivers & riders need to lower their lights when they come across (or drive behind) someone else causes a greater concern for the other:
- You acknowledge his presence.
- You do something which is purely in his favour (lowering your lights doesn’t help you to see better, it helps the other person).
- You notice that the other driver acknowledged your presence and did something for you.
This is more concern than most drivers ever show in day time, and according to my theory, it puts people into a different state of mind. Naturally you also occasionally encounter the guy who takes night for a chance to drive like a rally driver. Then you just hope that the presence on the road of a cyclist in the middle of the night is something that appears sufficiently suspect and incongruous to the driver’s eyes, that it will exert extra care when closing in.
One other point to take into account is the drinking habits in the area: the guys who can get a bit hot in the late evening, and those who are wasted/tired when they drive home from parties and clubs between 4 and 6 AM. It also depends on the local driving habits: in the area where I live now, they really drive like shit in day time, in normal condition (they don’t drive fast like where I grew up, they just do whatever & anything all the time). So it doesn’t get much worse when they are drunk :-D
As far as I am concern, I am wary of dusk and dawn (and wait for the night to be almost pitch black to start), for at dusk/dawn there may be one of those few drivers who drive without a light, either because they forgot to turn them on, or because they believe they know better and don’t need lights.
(In my answers in this thread, I often say ‘I’ and ‘my’ because I believe that one’s experience can vary a lot depending on the area, the specific roads used, and one’s riding habits and goals. For example, I have the feeling that English cyclists commonly ride on highways on which I’d refuse to put a tyre).
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Probably on a road though countryside, although obv well lit
although obv well lit
A few personal advices about that:
- no matter what your local laws are, and how you respect them or not, please have at least a rear (red) reflector: while you will immediately notice your front light failing, you probably won’t notice that your rear light is dead before a long time;
- bring backups: old, cheap, light lights will do; in case one of your main lights fails, you can always get back home or to a safe place with your backup, even if you have to go significantly slower with those weaker lights;
- a powerful headlight can serve as front light backup, and it is jolly handy when you have to fix something on your bike (change a punctured inner tube for example), which can turn into a nightmare otherwise, considering you only have 2 hands (or when you start dropping stuff in the grass…).
