Getting Really Invisible On The Motorcycle
Who knew the bulb blew?
Safe riding promoters tell you to ride as if you were invisible, because for the most part you are. Well, I took that one step further recently, I almost really was invisible, although I didn’t know it at first.
I recently started a regular day job–something I hadn’t had in nearly four years–and frankly, I don’t expect to ride to work very much. The direct route takes me up I-25 to 6th Avenue and then west. The part on I-25 is a bear, with really bad stop and go traffic. That kind of thing is murderous on your wrists on a bike, as I’m sure you know.
But I have ridden twice. On Wednesday before Thanksgiving I knew traffic would be light, and it was supposed to be a beautiful day. It was, and I rode.
Then the following week, also on Wednesday, it was going to be another gorgeous day so I decided I would take a longer route that would help me avoid the really bad traffic. That worked out OK.
So that evening I was heading home, and it was dusk, getting darker all the time. I started noticing that my headlight wasn’t doing all that good a job illuminating the road in front of me, but I could still see OK so I wasn’t concerned.
But it kept getting darker. And I was starting to have a suspicion that something was wrong. I suspected that my headlight was out. I flipped on the brights and there was definitely light. I flipped them back off and there did not seem to be any light. I wanted to pull up close behind a car and see if I was shining a light on it but couldn’t really do that at highway speed. Finally I just decided that oncoming traffic, I apologize, but I’m running with my brights on. And when I finally did get off the highway and pulled up close behind a car there was nothing when I flipped the brights off.
So essentially, I had been riding in the dark with no light to tell other drivers that I existed. Talk about invisible. And how long do you suppose the light had been out? I don’t ride at night a lot so it could have been a good long time. Now I know; all I have to do is remember to do something about it.
Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Going over the edge of the Grand Mesa
Biker Quote for Today
When in doubt, PIN IT! It may not help, but it’ll sure end the suspense…
Tags: motorcycle headlight
