What bike lights do you use?

This is what 400 glow sticks looks like

The evenings are getting shorter which means we’ll be using our lights a lot more g’damn it.

I’ve been through a hell of a lot of lights in my time. I’ve lost them, broken them, run over them, lent them out, replaced countless batteries, watched them fade from a flash into a pulse, used them to create impromptu discos, held them together with hair bands, rode home holding them in hand and on occasion in my mouth.

Christmas Bike Lights

YES. It's December, I can officially have chocolate for breakfast and start going on about Christmas.

Maya Angelou once said "I've learnt you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights." Well I'm about to Christmas up my bike so will be tackling my tangled up mess of battery pack lights. YAY.

If you want to avoid the whole untangling/ revealing your true self scenario, these guys might do the trick:

Santa or Rudolph Bike Lights by Red Berry Apple £10.95

Hellish Helmet & Pannier Pumpkin

Happy Halloween

Following last year's spokey shenanigans, I have again Halloweened up my helmet and bike.

Take one pumpkin, a bungee and ALL the back lights and voilà, you have a pannier pumpkin. This year's chap is particularly cheery.

My hellish Halloween helmet

It might not be massively scary but was epically embarrassing when it glowed in this dark serious lecture theatre the other day. Awkward.

If you want to carve a bike into a pumpkin, these guys show how it's done:

Check out these Halloween bike rides.

A Spokey Halloween

Bike lights are great for lighting up pumpkins. You don't have to worry about burning your fingers trying to drop a lit tea light or setting fire to curtains. That Halloween was particulary scary. This year to save time switching my back light from my pumpkin to my bike and back and forth, I decided to just put the pumpkin on my bike.  

I also pimped up my turquoise Bern helmet (modelled kindly by a pumpkin).

I've also been wearing a mask on the back of my head to scare the bejesus out of people behind me.

Here are a few more spooky bike buys:

1. Frankenstein Bell  By Skulluxe 

2. Boneshaker Magazine Issue 10 £4.50

3. Hardnutz Skullduggery Helmet £29.99

4. LED Skeleton Front Light £3.99 Available at Chain Reaction Cycles.

5. Electra Sugar Skulls 3i Cruiser Bike £584

My Tips For Night Rides

Night rides are SO MUCH FUN. I even hijacked one and made it my Birthday party. Here are some tips I swear by.

1. Get some sleep.
Get up early, go out for breakfast then chill out all day before having a disco nap in the afternoon. If you can't nap stay up late the night before and have the mother of all lie ins. Treat it like NYE. Once you get to the start line the adrenaline will keep you up.

2. Lay off the Coffee.
Coffee will dehydrate you and it's a diuretic which is never good on long rides. Drink lots of water and save the coffee for when you pass the finish line.

3. Eat little and often.
Sometimes rides can cover a few meal times and I find it hard to eat large amounts during a ride. I make easy to pack little mix bags of nuts, seeds and dried fruit to keep my energy levels up. Bananas and cereal bars are also good, I make my own.

4. Protect your eyes.
I hate having to stop because something has flown into my eye. Sunglasses are not really recommended for night riding, although you will need them in the morning so don't forget to pack them. I've never bothered investing in those cycling glasses with the changeable lenses because I'd lose them immediately  I wear novelty hipster glasses and hope I don't get in any official pictures. 



5. Light up.
As well as your usual compulsory bike lights battery pack fairy light are a must. Bring masking tape so you can fix them on safely without damaging your paint work. Glow sticks on spokes look amazing as do these Colour-Changing Bike Wheel Lights from John Lewis:

Colour-Changing Bike Wheel Lights.

Fairy lights & glow sticks (stoker's view).

6. Layer Up.
Temperatures drop considerably during the night and when you are stopping and starting you really feel it. I find light layers easier to carry. I swear by a denim shirt but if anyone asks, say I said 'a hi vis jacket'.

7. Enjoy the sunset.
It's not often I get to see the sunset without leaving a night club carrying a pair of heels.