Night cycling is often thought to be extra dangerous but in my experience it is much safer than cycling during the day. And the later it is then the better it gets with 2am – 5am being the most peaceful, if you can stay awake.
Why Is Cycling At Night Considered Dangerous?
There are two ways why cycling at night can put you at risk. Visibility and boy racers.
First, if you’re riding in the dark in dark clothing with no lights then you deserve to get hit. You have to use your head here. A driver won’t be expecting to see anyone out cycling at night so make sure you have at least two rear lights.
Having bright or reflective clothing is also a must. I carry three lights. Two are on before dark and the third is a spare that I can turn on if one stops. Remember to check often. I normally check every time I hear a car coming in the distance.
Same goes for city riding. Lights are to help you be seen, not just for you to see. So make sure you have plenty of lights and reflectors on your bike. Try to have some reflectors on moving parts such as pedals, wheels or legs.
This will make it even safer than cycling during the day because bright lights flashing in darkness will make you much more visible than cycling during the day.
The second problem I’ve mentioned was joy riders or boy racers. It is not uncommon to have cars fly past at high speeds, although this is usually early in the night and near bigger cities.
At night, people may drive faster as it’s less likely to meet anyone on the road. There is also an added risk of them having a few drinks.
Luckily for me, I’ve never had an issue with cars getting too close during the night. Yes, a few boy racers have flown past at high speed but because I was so well lit up they were able to give me plenty of space. I have had much closer calls during the day.
Enjoy The Peace
The roads at night will be of course less busy. This means you can have the whole road to yourself for a while. I remember when cycling the Mile Failte 1200 I rode from 2am to 7am, over 80 km over the mountains of Kerry and not a single car past me the whole time. I was starting to think the world had come to an end.
Remember To Stock Up
If you are going to be riding through the night make sure you have plenty of food and water with you. It can be hard to find somewhere open during the night.
Don’t rely on 24hr petrol stations as some may say they’re 24 hrs but when you get there no one is at the window.
I have found that light drawstring bags are ideal for this. They pack away to nearly nothing during the day and can hold a large volume of food and drink which you can sling onto you back as you ride into the night.
How To Stay Awake All Night
Staying awake can be an issue for some. I find listening to podcasts usually does the trick for me but sometimes I have to use other tricks to keep me going.
First of all I know that if I can stay awake for a certain amount of time, usually past 4 am for me, then I know that my Circadian rhythm will help me stay awake.
I have read a book called “Why we sleep” by Mathew Walker. The below graphs are from the book and I’ll use them to try to briefly describe how our sleep cycle works.
The first image shows a normal awake sleep cycle that most of us experience. As you can see the circadian rhythm raises during our awake phase and drops during the night when we should be sleeping.
However, this is not the only reason why we feel tired. There is another factor called Adenosine. Mathew goes into great detail in explaining what Adenosine is in his book but for the purposes of this post we can refer to it as “Sleep Pressure”.
The more sleep pressure you have and the greater the gap between it and the circadian rhythm curve the more you will want to sleep.
In the below image we can see that our sleep pressure is high as our circadian rhythm begins to decline. As we sleep our sleep pressure is relieved and as the pressure drops to the rising circadian rhythm we wake.
Now let’s have a look at what happens if we don’t sleep. The chart below shows us why we feel so tired in the middle of the night. The distance between the sleep pressure and the circadian rhythm is at its greatest. As a new day arrives our circadian rhythm begins to rise and the gap reduces meaning we don’t feel as tired.
However, trying to stay awake for another night will be incredibly difficult. It really is a fascinating book of which I am just touching on it here. I recommend giving it a read.
Just knowing this gives me something to focus on. I know if I can stay awake until 3 – 4am then it will get easier after that. I have also used caffeine tablets but don’t’ over do it with them. You are already putting your body under enough stress as it is. Adding too much caffeine and/or energy drinks can be dangerous.
One other tip that works surprisingly well is brushing your teeth. Don’t know why it works but it does.
Prepare For Cooler Conditions
As the sun goes down it doesn’t just take the light but also the heat. My general rule is to always expect it to be colder than it should be. Leg warmer, arm warmers and a light down gilet can really add to your enjoyment. They pack away small so just take them, just in case.
As I said at the beginning, In my experience cycling at night is safer than riding during the day. There are less cars and any cars that do pass give you more room and you can see them coming from a mile away.
So give night cycling a go and let me know if you find it as peaceful as I do. Oh and enjoy the wildlife that you will come across from time to time. You never know what you might find.
Just make sure you’re lit up from every angle.