May-05: Night Ride Light Testing

Given the new seat-post mounted water bottle holder, I wanted to check that the alignment of bottles and both rear lights still gave good rear light "projection".  Also wanted to test a helmet light Smitty loaned me.  Too much light in the city to really test anything, so I visited the abode of Lt. Dave after dark.

Very dark on his street / road.

The rear blinkies and bottles are nicely aligned such that the there is no obstruction of the blinkie lights.  The white water bottles may actually act as an additional reflector when filled with water ... interesting. 

Smitty's helmet light nearly blinded Lt. Dave when I flicked it on.  It is about as bright as the Fenix flashlight.  I will figure out how to weave the headband into / around my helmet before Saturday, and I will be good to go with a primary and a back-up headlight, each with sufficient candle-power to light the road ahead.  And, maybe more importantly, get respect from oncoming traffic.

I did a little 7-mile jaunt from LT's to BJP and back.  Had thought to ride longer, but the batteries in the Fenix were the same ones I was using when I finished the 300 km brevet -- I wanted to find out how much useful juice they still had in them.  I should have grabbed a couple replacement batteries before I started riding because after about 5 miles, I really wanted more light on the road ahead.  However, and this is a good thing, even though the Fenix was no longer casting sufficient light for me to adequately see the road ahead, oncoming cars were still respectful and dimmed their headlights.  That is what I had encountered during the rainy finish of the 300 -- even when the Fenix was giving me almost no help in seeing the road, cars could obviously see me (because they dimmed their headlights). 

I returned to LT's neighborhood as the lights inside LT's were going out.  I suspected he and Laurie knew I had returned.  Since I didn't want them to be worried further about my safety, instead of replacing batteries and riding a bit more, I packed it in for the night.  After all, I had accomplished what I wanted:  checked the alignment of the rear lights and seat-post mounted water bottles; checked the brightness of Smitty's loaner light; tested the time limit on the Fenix batteries; and changed the Fenix batteries in the dark.
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May-05: 

LT's: Night Light Testing, BJP 'n back; 7.0 m.; 0hrs, 27min in-motion time; 15.3 mph. 

Q-1 tot: 16 rides; __938.2 m.; _60 hrs, 39 min; 15.5 mph.
Apr tot: 10 rides; __717.9 m.; _45 hrs, 27 min; 15.1 mph.
May tot: _3 rides; __123.1 m.: __8 hrs, 08 min; 15.1 mph.
YTD tot: 29 rides; 1,779.2 m.; 116 hrs, 14 min; 15.3 mph.