Riding in the Dark

Now that the time has changed and the days are getting shorter, it's time to switch to my winter bike. It's an old Peugeot mountain bike my brother gave to me many a year back. He bought it while stationed in Germany and Uncle Sam shipped it back for him. He wasn't in need of a bike at the time so I ended up with it. It's got to be at least twenty-five years old by now but it still goes. I put some new tires on it a few years back and oil the chain every once in a while but it's pretty much low maintenance. It's heavy like a truck but that probably contributes to the reliability factor.

For commuting in the winter darkness, I've got the thing all geeked up with lights and reflective tape. I wear a reflective vest and an ankle strap. I have a tail light on the bike and my helmet and I've got two headlights. The one small light is a cheapo bike headlight that would be OK if you were riding around in the city but out here in the sticks, it's my emergency backup. The big light is a 6 volt lantern that I bought at Wal-Mart for about six bucks. I sawed the back of it off and TIG welded up an aluminum tube and plate that's riveted into the back of the lantern. The battery is in the bottle cage with a short length of zip cord to get the power up to the light. It's nice and bright and does a nice job of allowing people to see me and me to see the road. The handlebar bracket it sits in I made to fit a Dollar General flashlight. The little flashlight was a big improvement over the bicycle light but as always, if a little bit is good, a whole lot is better. I carry the flashlight with me for a backup headlight as well as just having a light in case I need to fix something while I'm commuting. I don't know how this setup compares to a high end store bought setup but the price was right and I'd rather make things anyway.

I rode in Monday and it was 26 degrees when I left the house. Lots of rain and real busy this week, so the truck has been called into service but so far I've driven less than 20 days of the school year.