If you are going to take to two wheels in the Winter months then eat your carrots. Coming up to December, this country can barely muster eight hours of daylight, and having an affinity for the dark really helps. If you are a shift worker like me, then the dark is your friend. For half the year, it is a reality that I can thankfully thrive in. But what abut cycling at night. After all, there are so many bits and pieces of advice floating around, what is the best thing to do?
Well, I would advise on lights. One on the back and definitely one on the front, that is the priority one. As a cyclist, we are well lit up from the back, but from the front is where vehicles pulling out need to see us. Out lights are not for us to see, but for others to see us, especially in the urban area.
With regards to Hi-Vis and helmets I am unsure about their need. While common sense dictates that these should be ‘de rigeur’, my own personal experience tells me it is better to be all in black, and just have a set of lights at night. If I look ’safe’ then cars take greater risks with me, while if I look like someone who does not care about life, I will get a wide berth from passing vehicles. Also a cyclist in a Hi-Vis looks like a prat, while a cyclist dressed in dark colours looks like a nutcase. However, it is each to their own, but there is a case for a lack of cycle safety as it does put the onus on road users who actually cause the fatalities.
(By the by, I am no road safety officer and these comments are from my own personal experiences. They should be taken with a large pinch of salt. In other words, I am not responsible for anyones else’s experiences on the roads after they read this. Got it!)
Cycling at night has its hazards. Drunk drivers are the worse followed by drivers who just don’t give a s**t (minicabs, saloon cars, sports cars, vans, 7.5T lorries, tipper trucks, single deck buses in that order) and the hesitant ones who pull out halfway and stop. Then there are people, kids, who take great delight at trying to knock you off. Finally, the biggest criminals, doors opening from drivers, too fat to turn their necks and look out for cyclists. Yes, it is the responsibility of the driver to control their own doors and there is a straightforward lawsuit if struck by an opening car door, for the cyclist. But my well being is far more important than an easy paycheque.
So why cycle at night? Well, it is peaceful, especially in the early dawn hours, or when the clubbers and pubbers have died down. London is a 24 hour city, but at the same time, it is a tame urban sprawl that likes its beauty sleep.
There is a startling array at night that makes deserted roads, small lanes and hidden paths a delight to discover. Structures that look one way in the day can suddenly seem ethereal at night. It is a poignant beauty that makes you stop and look, something that is rare in London, when the rat race is all encompassing.
A picture is worth a thousand words. It is very easy to write about the negatves of night time cycling, but even easier just to show why I enjoy taking to my cycle during the small hours. It is through necessity why my timing is always strange, but nonetheless I take advantage of the fact and I am one of the lucky few who gets to see the capital in a different light.
