My Evening Commute

[cvcalhoun]

Last Friday, I decided to be all prepared. I charged my headlight, and put it back on the bike so I’d be sure not to forget it.

I bike downtown today while it’s still light out. It is most definitely not still light out after a very long day at the office. But I’m prepared, I’ve got my fully charged headlight, right?

Well, no, I don’t. Apparently, even without being used since Friday, the battery has run down, a lot. Just as I’ve pretty much reached the point of no return on the CCT, the light starts its flashing thing, telling me it’s about to go out.

No problem, I have a spare headlight. So I go to turn it on. It will not go on.

Okay, a bit of a setback. But not a big one. The spare headlight just runs on AAA batteries, and I have spare AAA batteries in my panniers. I remove the old batteries from the headlight, put the new ones in, and… nothing. Apparently, the bulb had burned out.

So I just managed the CCT without a headlight at all. Some of the time, I was proceeding by moonlight. When there were overhanging trees that blocked even that, I’d sort of figure out where the sides of the path were by the light of my wheel lights, and then ride halfway between the two sides, hoping that there were no impediments on the path ahead that I wouldn’t be able to see.

Needless to say, I’ve now got my headlight recharging, because I really don’t want to do that again tomorrow night!

[Crickey7]

That’s fairly impressive. I have good night vision, and I’d find the CCT near impossible in the dark. It reminds me of the time I found some poor young staffer from the French embassy wandering lightless on the CCT one night. I shared a light with him up to Dorset and gave him directions back to Georgetown via the streets.

[bentbike33]

@cvcalhoun 145466 wrote:

But I’m prepared, I’ve got my fully charged headlight, right?

Well, no, I don’t. Apparently, even without being used since Friday, the battery has run down, a lot.

Long-term permanent solution: Dynamo hub powered lights. The Germans have some fantastic LED headlights designed to work with dynamo hubs. See http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/lightingsystems.htm for a good introduction.

[LhasaCM]

@bentbike33 145472 wrote:

Long-term permanent solution: Dynamo hub powered lights. The Germans have some fantastic LED headlights designed to work with dynamo hubs. See http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/lightingsystems.htm for a good introduction.

Shorter-term permanent partial solution – you could look at getting something like the Reelight Neo or something analogous, depending on your rims. They had a successful Kickstarter last year (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1651132789/neo-worlds-most-powerful-friction-free-bikelight) and last month started shipping out (got mine a couple of weeks back). It doesn’t look like they have that up on their website for order at the moment, but hopefully that’s just a temporary glitch. Works via some sort of magic (not really – takes advantage of the Eddy Currents generated by a rotating aluminum rim). Nowhere near as bright as something that is powered by a dynamo hub (just north of 100 lumen for the front light), but far simpler to add on.

[Steve O]

@cvcalhoun 145466 wrote:

Last Friday, I decided to be all prepared. I charged my headlight, and put it back on the bike . . .

Way back in the olden days, when halogens were cutting-edge lighting technology, and lead acid batteries were made in the shapes of frame pumps or water bottles, or had little packs you could attach to your frame, this sort of thing would happen to me 2-3 times a winter. Yes, I had chargers at home and at work, but no matter; I would end up without lights to get home. Arrggh. Finally about 12-14 years ago I bought a Schmidt generator hub, and I have been a happy camper ever since. Having the hub I know I will always have at least one light working even if I manage to mess up everything else (I used to carry a spare bulb, but now my light is LED which hopefully will not fail). I highly recommend this for year-round commuters.

Also, stock up on blinkies. Although they are tiny, on the CCT they might add just enough light to make you more confident of the trail edge.

[cvcalhoun]

@bentbike33 145472 wrote:

Long-term permanent solution: Dynamo hub powered lights. The Germans have some fantastic LED headlights designed to work with dynamo hubs. See http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/lightingsystems.htm for a good introduction.

I may do that over the long run. Over the short term, I have a Cycliq Fly12 that I’ve ordered and that should come in the near future. My plan is to keep the light part of the Fly12 off, and just use the recording part, most of the time. However, if the Cygolite burns out, I’ll have the Fly12 as a backup. And because I’ll be charging both of them each night, that should be enough.

However, over the longer term, do you have any experience with how often the bulbs on a dynamo burn out? Even if I don’t need to worry about a battery, I could be just as stuck if I lost the bulb.

[bentbike33]

@cvcalhoun 145516 wrote:

However, over the longer term, do you have any experience with how often the bulbs on a dynamo burn out? Even if I don’t need to worry about a battery, I could be just as stuck if I lost the bulb.

You might still be able to get a retrogrouch halogen-bulb dynamo light, but LEDs are the primary tech now because of the much greater efficiency with which they convert electricity into light. While there were some cases years ago of overvoltage burnouts of LEDs from going fast, particularly if you did not also run a taillight, the modern (esp. German made) lights all have overvoltage regulators to prevent this problem. The expected lifetimes for LEDs are in the multiple 10s of thousands of hours, and in theory they are supposed to slowly dim (i.e., reduce maximum light output) rather than die suddenly at the end of service life. While there is always the possibility of a manufacturing defect, they are unlikely to burn out. I have been running a dynamo headlight for many years without a failure, and I just leave it on all the time, day or night.

[mstone]

Even retrogrouches eschew incandescents these days. (They have no choice, night vision decreases with age.) There just isn’t anything positive about using them on a bike anymore.

[elbows]

I remembered to charge my headlight, but then couldn’t find it or my extra blinkie when I got on my bike after an errand a few miles from my office. So I was feeling a bit exposed riding the angry DC streets with one blinkie.

I was a touch uncomfortable riding down M Street through Georgetown at about 7:30 in waning light, but figured I’d take it easy and be careful until I could get to Key Bridge and trails. Along came a well-lit DC policeman on a bike. He tailed me gently and waited at the lights with me, even though he could have easily gone through. He didn’t seem to want to chat which was fine by me, but I’m pretty sure he was trying to help me. Whether he was or not, I really appreciated it.

[mello yello]

Last night I found a pannier on the ground, on the sidewalk on E. Basin drive between George Mason Memorial and the switchback up to the 14th St Bridge / Mt Vernon. It was right where the sidewealk is heaved and there’s a bit of a ridge. I took it over to the Park Police man in his cruiser parked in front of the Jefferson, and he said it’d be about evens me keeping it or him taking it as lost & found… but that the process for getting it back would be pretty involved if PP took custody of it… So I put the cell phone in my pocket so I could hear it ring, strapped the pannier to my rack and headed home. Turns out, the rider didn’t notice it was gone until he got home, then put his bike on his car and started re-tracing his commute in sections. His wife called the phone at some point and I was able to give her my contact information, and he drove to my house to pick it up. Turns out, it’s a good thing he was able to come get it, because it had things like his work keys and badge, which would have been a big hassle for security. Actually the phone was his work phone too. I’d managed to internet stalk him enough to get his LinkedIN profile, work email, and work phone, and had started to contact him using those venues.

To tie this post into the ongoing discussion theme, dude had a classic dual-bulb halogen L&M setup in the top pocket, waiting for early winter darkness.

[KLizotte]

You’re a hero Mello Yello!

[mello yello]

@KLizotte 145626 wrote:

You’re a hero Mello Yello!

Good thing I spotted it! It was about 14″ x 14″ x 8″ and bright neon yellow! Right next to the path!

I’m sure anyone else would have done the same. Last pannier I picked up I could see the guy who dropped it, made for a much easier return.

[kcb203]

I was bad yesterday. I was riding through a bike lane in DC and a woman pulled out from a parking garage right in front of me and stopped in the bike lane because there was no gap in the gridlocked traffic for her to get into the travel lane. I scooted around behind her and slapped the car as I continued on my way. Probably shouldn’t have done that, but in a way, it’s our way to honk a horn given that our bikes don’t have horns.

[EasyRider]

Good lord there were a lot of gnats out yesterday evening. My high-vis mesh vest must have trapped dozens of them.

[bentbike33]

@EasyRider 146234 wrote:

Good lord there were a lot of gnats out yesterday evening. My high-vis mesh vest must have trapped dozens of them.

Gnattily dressed.

[Author]

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