Riding At Night
Safety
Safety should be your top priority when riding after dark. Lights are not only important for your safety, they are the law. Do you know the bike light laws in your state? Check out the League of American Bicyclists State Bike Laws Center for the info you need to ride legally at night.
Doing Your First Race
Want to do a 24 hour race and don’t know where to start? First of all, there is nothing quite as rewarding as accomplishing your first 24 hour finish. You will come to find out that the memories are much stronger once the sun goes down.
There are many great races of all sizes across the country. Once you pick your race and your team and dial your training schedule, it’s time to think about your support. People don’t realize how important your crew is to keep you motivated, your equipment in top shape and to cheer you on when it’s blowing snow or 35 degrees at 3 a.m. We recommend making “fun” your top quality in both your team and your crew.
If you check out our events page, you can see where the NiteRider van will be throughout the year. If you have one of our lights, we’ll be a part of your crew…and trust us, we’re fun! Bring your lights to us, labeled with your team name and number and we’ll charge your lights on our multi charging” station. Light problem? Our crew will fix it on the spot.
Many people don’t realize how that half of a 24 hour race is in the dark and cutting corners on your lighting system will leave you the dark – literally. When picking a light setup you should factor in several items – light output, battery life, light placement and of course the dreaded “b word” – budget. We recommend two lights, one for the bars and one for your helmet. Helmet mounts are important and enable you to look through the corners. A Pro 700 LED Race and MiNewt.350 is a fantastic and lightweight set up (National Champion Josh Tostado’s preferred combo), while a 1400 LED combined with a 700 LED Race is like having the sun at your fingertips. To learn more about our products, click here and to learn more about lighting technology, check out our tech page.
When it comes to budget, we’ve seen people try to use Mag Lites, simple headlamps and flashlights. You’ve spent a lot of money and time to get to your race, scrimping on a light setup can seriously ruin your experience. Fortunately, today’s LED and Li-Ion technology is enabling us to build serious lighting solutions for a relatively decreased price for our customers.
Whatever you decide, make sure you test your lights 10-14 days before your race, do any needed maintenance, order any replacement parts and ensure the battery is holding a full charge.
