civilised evening

Last night Vernon, Nathan & I drove over (hangs head in shame...) to Wreningham
& had a meal with a load of CTC/Norwich Cycle Campaign cyclists.

At the end, Nathan & I cycled back into Norwich with them - to our collection
point - friends' home - and then returned home. Vernon didn't cycle as he's got
an injury right now.

It was great fun cycling in a large bunch back along lovely country lanes, in
the evening shade - it was dark by the time we reached the city and thoroughly
enjoyable to cycle through the city in the dark on almost deserted roads. The
really fun bit was this mass of cyclists all lit up & swathed in reflectives
cycling along the lanes and oncoming traffic slowing and sometimes stopping to
allow us to pass. Natch' being a polite bunch, any such courtesy was given a
friendly wave and a "thank you". There was the odd, "Blimey, the Tour de France
is a bit off course" comment from peds we went by. It was the first time I'd
cycled in a large bunch (must have been about 15 to 20 of us) and it was a very
sociable and enjoyable ride. I could get used to it! There was even a couple of
darksiders there. One guy on an Optima and there was a tandem trike too. One
thing I enjoyed, was that being in a bunch meant there was a lot of
illumination, which meant we could cycle quite fast (for me!). I've done
Norfolk lanes at night with just Vernon and cycling in that level of darkness
is not a pleasant experience and one I wouldn't willingly repeat. Cycling in
the big bunch made it way more enjoyable.

Cheers, helen s


~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email
Mail sent to it is dumped
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Tony W wrote:
"wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX" wrote in message
...


snip


One
thing I enjoyed, was that being in a bunch meant there was a lot of
illumination, which meant we could cycle quite fast (for me!). I've done
Norfolk lanes at night with just Vernon and cycling in that level of

darkness

is not a pleasant experience and one I wouldn't willingly repeat. Cycling

in

the big bunch made it way more enjoyable.


Get yourself some nice bright lights and try again. Cycling in the dark or
in the moon light is magical with the right kit. And the right kit means
you can see and be seen -- and can force oncoming cars to dip their lights!!

T



Any recommendations? I too live in deepest, darkest Norfolk and agree
that the lanes are pretty scary places in winter evenings.

Succorso

Tony W wrote:

Get yourself some nice bright lights and try again. Cycling in the dark or
in the moon light is magical with the right kit. And the right kit means
you can see and be seen -- and can force oncoming cars to dip their lights!!

Was cycling along the main access track into Glen Afric about 3 or 4
years ago, summer so although about 23:00 not completely dark, but
getting murkier as we rode on. Just had some pretty basic lights and
they managed to highlight rocks on the path to the extent that you could
easily avoid them, but couldn't really see what you'd be changing
direction into far enough in advance. Which was invariably more of the
same, so after a bit we turned the lights *off* and found it not only
easier, but without all the minor direction fiddles for not much effect
it was probably safer too! The track is quite pale and the surrounding
heather dark, so you got enough visual input to basically see where the
track was and wasn't, and we just trusted the big knobblies to take the
bumps in their stride. Which they did :-)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Succorso" wrote
in message ...


Any recommendations? I too live in deepest, darkest Norfolk and agree
that the lanes are pretty scary places in winter evenings.

Smarts are cheap.

Lumicycle are the dogs danglers -- but not cheap.

There are several others.

T

"Tony W" wrote in message =
...
|=20
| "wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX" wrote in =
message
| ...
|=20
|=20
| snip
|=20
| One
| thing I enjoyed, was that being in a bunch meant there was a lot of
| illumination, which meant we could cycle quite fast (for me!). I've =
done
| Norfolk lanes at night with just Vernon and cycling in that level of
| darkness
| is not a pleasant experience and one I wouldn't willingly repeat. =
Cycling
| in
| the big bunch made it way more enjoyable.
|=20
| Get yourself some nice bright lights and try again. Cycling in the =
dark or
| in the moon light is magical with the right kit. And the right kit =
means
| you can see and be seen -- and can force oncoming cars to dip their =
lights!!
|=20
| T
|=20
|=20

That reminds me about my first set of Nightsun lights.... I was stopped =
by two Police Officers who were intrigued by their brightness - they had =
though (from a distance) that I was riding a motorbike down cycle lanes!


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Any recommendations? I too live in deepest, darkest Norfolk and agree
that the lanes are pretty scary places in winter evenings.

Smarts are cheap.

Got Smarts - but the battery doesn't last long - that's the downside. I guess I
just am not one for cycling in the dark, down unlit Norfolk lanes, fast, on me
tod. In a large group it was fun, though - and cycling through the city, Smarts
aren't *necessary* due to adequate streetlighting.

Cheers, helen s


~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email
Mail sent to it is dumped
My correct one can be gleaned from
h$**$*$el$**e$n$**$d$**$o$*$t**$$s$**$im$mo$ns*@a$ **o$l.c$$*o$*m*$
by getting rid of the overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~

wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX wrote:

Got Smarts - but the battery doesn't last long - that's the downside. I guess I
just am not one for cycling in the dark, down unlit Norfolk lanes, fast, on me
tod. In a large group it was fun, though - and cycling through the city, Smarts
aren't *necessary* due to adequate streetlighting.

Depends how fast "fast" is. Cycling out to a friend's in rural Angus is
no problem on the way out as it's all uphill and thus pretty slow (about
150m ascent spread over several miles), and though I do feel a need to
slow down from daylight speeds returning downhill all the way after dark
it's not like I have to crawl, just refrain from taking the bends at 20+
mph.

That's with the SON and B&M Lumotech so no battery issues at all. My
old bike I'd do the same trip with Samrts, running on the low beam most
of the time and going double beam for more festive bits to conserve the
battery (which does last ages on low beam, and low beam is still okay
for a lot of things IME).

The SON isn't as bright as the Smarts on double beam, but good enough
that rather than double up with them I've loaned the Smarts to a friend
instead. Low beam on the Smarts combined with a SON may well be good
enough for you if you felt either one or the other wasn't good enough.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX wrote:

: Got Smarts - but the battery doesn't last long - that's the downside. I guess I


The battery should. Mine lasts for a good few hours on 10W (I've got
mine as 5W/10W Spot/Spot rather than the 2.5W/10W flood/spot the
used to come as)

Arthur

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 12:28:17 +0100, "Tony W"
wrote:


"Succorso" wrote
in message ...


Any recommendations? I too live in deepest, darkest Norfolk and agree
that the lanes are pretty scary places in winter evenings.

Smarts are cheap.

Lumicycle are the dogs danglers -- but not cheap.

There are several others.

Mrs. G has the Cateye HL-RC230 Dual Front lights and a couple of LED
rear lights. Cycling home from Romsey along unlit lanes was no
problem. I've got a SON dynamo with the B+M Lumotec front thingummy
with standlight which isn't too shabby either.

--
DG

Bah!

Disgruntled Goat wrote:
I've got a SON dynamo with the B+M Lumotec front thingummy
with standlight which isn't too shabby either.

*THAT* was the one I was trying to think of. Someone (Richard Evans?) had
one on his Kingcycle on the DD and every time I saw it in my mirror, I kept
thinking "car".

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
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