I can't see!

The burden of adult-hood sometimes monopolizes your time in such a manner that there just isn't enough time in the day to hit the trails. What to do? Ride in the dark! Here are some methods for night riding on the bike. Perhaps Horsehooligan can elaborate later on night horse riding strategies, but for the mean time, consider these to be bike specific. Remember, horses have eyeballs that don't appreciate high intensity light. Bikes on the other hand don't seem to care.

I've chose to buck up and go with a dual light setup. I have a Light and Motion Stella 300 on my handlebars and a Stella 150 mounted on my helmet. The 300 mounts easy enough but you will need to put some thought into the battery placement.



Riding with this though, you quickly find out how rarely your handlebars and your head point in the same direction. Any turn on the trail quickly leaves you in the dark. The solution for this was the Stella 150.



This is set up for easy helmet mounting and it goes together quite easily thanks to the hook and loop fastening. The battery clings on nicely in the back and helps to balance the weight on your head, preventing helmet shifting.





Together, these lights put out a lot of brightness. 450 lumens to be precise. You can adjust them to point wherever, but I prefer the barmount light to point just ahead of the front tire so I know what I'm immediately rolling up on. My headlight, however, I have pointing directly ahead of my line of vision. Here I have the trail ahead of my tire lighted up as well as the next turn when I'm looking ahead on the trail. Works out pretty good.



There are other ways to skin the cat. If there was a hot product for 2010, it might have been the light; it appears this corner of the market experienced amazing growth and development. There are lots of brands at all different price points. Do your homework and give it a try!