Monday, September 10, 2007

The Intimidator

After our dark ride the other day, the neighbor came armed with the 'Intimidator'. He had moved his halogen light with the rechargable battery from his commuter bike to his road bike, plus he added a second blinky in the back. He still had his not so bright LED headlight, and I was using my Trek light.

We called it the Intimidator because oncoming traffic would slow and pull to the side as we came up. It may have been aimed a little high, but we thought that it was the sheer awesomeness of the halogen beam that made all drivers cower in fear.

When a passing car was close, and I was temporarily blinded by his headlights, I hit a broken branch that was laying across the bike lane. A piece jumped up and banged me in the shin. No serious wounds, but there is a bump there still tonight.

Shortly after that, my headlight switched off. No amount of banging and switch flicking would bring it back. Now, I was dependent on the Intimidator for my safety.

As we neared Martell Forest, we started to notice that the halogen bulb was getting weaker. By the time we returned to Division Road near Granville Bridge, it was a tiny yellow blip. At this point, we were both relying on the weak LED to light our way home. I also used the light of cars coming up behind us to help see the road.

We came up upon another rider with a very bright LED light and followed him for a while. However, we had to turn on Division while he continued on River Road.

By the time we got back to the neighborhood, there was enough light to see without lights.

Looks like I'm going shopping for a light soon.

Miles Ridden: 11.1

BONUS RIDE!!

After I drove home for lunch, I decided to take the bike back to work, so I was able to fit in a commute.

Bonus Miles Ridden: 7.1

1 Comments:

Blogger Apertome said...

One thing that stinks about LEDs is that they don't get dim when the battery is wearing out -- they just suddenly turn off completely. I have been bitten by this a few times.

4:51 PM  

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