jbeattie writes:

On Friday, January 26, 2018 at 7:53:52 AM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 1/26/2018 10:29 AM, jbeattie wrote:

[ ... ]

On part of my ride home last night, I just gave into the fact that
I couldn't see a f****** thing with an 800 lumen light, pouring
rain and a broken road surface with rushing water like riding
through a stream bed. The good part was that I was on a
low-traffic climb on a tiny residential street. I could use either
better night vision and windshield wipers on my glasses or a 2000
lumen light. On dry nights, the dyno is fine in most places.

Yeah, I usually avoided night rides in pouring rain. But regarding the
800 lumen light, do keep in mind that a car's headlight beams aren't
visible in the conditions you describe. As mentioned, I recall shopping
on a rainy night, then getting into our car with my wife in a big plaza
parking lot. As I drove away, she said "Your headlights aren't on!" But
they were.

The light reflects forward off the horizontal film of water, instead of
backward off the texture of dry pavement. If the light doesn't reflect
back to your eye, it's not visible.

So I give you credit for riding in those conditions. Either that or I
advise you to think twice about riding in those conditions.

If I don't ride in those conditions, I don't commute half the year.

In heavy rain, the problem is not only the diffraction of light off
the wet surface but, for me, the diffraction of bright lights off the
droplets on my glasses. Looking over my glasses, I lose far vision. I
could wear contacts, but I prefer not to, and if its raining hard, by
eyeballs get slapped without glasses. My waning night vision is a
problem as are the blinding, super-bright bike and car headlights.

Bright point light sources make MUPS and cycletracks particularly
dangerous because you get blinded and can't see pedestrians (who all
wear black at night for some reason) or poorly lighted
bicyclists. It's really bad on two-way separated cycle tracks with
on-coming MV traffic on the roadway immediately to your right and
headlights in your face. Another planning mistake.

Recently I've tried these visorgog things:

https://www.amazon.com/VISORGOG-Viso.../dp/B001VINXOU

They're intended as laboratory wear, and I'm sure they look strange, but
they add some warmth and some protection from rain or snow and wind. I
wear mine over my usual glasses, and have attached a mirror to them.

The viewing surface slopes inward at roughly 45 degrees, and if water
does stick on them they're easier to wipe off with a glove than
eyeglasses are.

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