riding in the fog

[biking_fox]

I have a ProViz - Switch - jacket. 360deg reflective on one side and normal hi-viz fluorescent yellow on the other. What's the best way around to wear it in daylight fog?

Normally in daylight you want the HiViz of course, but in the fog, especially with drivers with lights on the reflective might be better? I did wear it in reflective mode this morning, but there didn't seem to be much light striking it, as most drivers were using dipped. OTOH, cyclists in just HV were nearly invisible too.

 

[mjr]

HV is mostly pointless in fog. As you noticed, neither fluo nor reflectiveness works well in those conditions. I'd invest in the best directional (front) and spread (rear) lights you can afford instead. And use less motored routes if possible.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Space lemon won't help. Nor will reflectives. Very bright rear lights might but when I was cross-country commuting to work in the fogone day [insert long tedious anecdote of no interest to anyone]

So I will not ride peak time in fog anymore.

 

[Origamist]

I'm afraid if you're going to ride in dense fog, Hi-Viz is only going to be of very limited use. Most drivers will be using dipped headlights and fog lights and this is not going to hit much of your jacket when in reflective mode. Also silver reflectives do not stand out in fog! You're probably better off in oranges and lemons, or black!

I have powerful front and rear lights, but they are not fog lights (which have a different beam shape and sit low to the road in order to light the way at slow speeds) and as such their effectiveness is not great when it's a pea-souper.

This morning, visibility was down to between 40m and 100m and it's not much fun on NSL rural A and B roads.

 

[mjr]

So I will not ride peak time in fog anymore.

So do you not go to work on foggy days any more? Work from home?

 

[glenn forger]

Put your front light on steady and pretend you're at a Jean Michel Jarre concert.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

A few years back my OH got worried about me cycling 22 miles home in dense fog. I had my hi-viz waterproof on to keep dry. He drove out of his way to find me, knowing which road I was on... Ironically when he did finally find me he said I stood out better than all of the cars around me. My front and rear lights were more visible than cars that had bothered to put fog lamps on and after that time he stopped bothering about it. Seriously heavy rain is more problematical. Don't rely on 'passive' visibility, make yourself seen with a decent set of lights and get on with it.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I don't ride in traffic when there's fog.
I'm lucky that I can get to work on segregated paths. Still, need to watch out for other cyclists, pedestrians and dogs, so, 3mph

 

[GrumpyGregry]

So do you not go to work on foggy days any more? Work from home?

I don't do that job anymore*

Train generally took the strain on foggy days; though they went in tandem with what the more alarmist sort of newspaper headline termed "misery for millions - rail travel chaos", or I could get a lift in a car from various colleagues who live in the same town as me. Weather induced WFH was generally reserved for "snow days", and then only at the old office location not the new, and even then I'd tend to rock up on the mtb to be a role model (and to enhance my rep of being a bit of a mentalist)

**Don't do any job at the moment. cph gig has finished and am back in Blighty officially "resting" for a bit.

 

[palinurus]

Dinotte rear light on max brightness and a Hope Vision II up front (in addition to usual front/ rear dynamo lighting). Also I remove my glasses, a cycling cap doesn't keep fog off 'em.

 

[mjr]

Also I remove my glasses, a cycling cap doesn't keep fog off 'em.

Anti-fog cleaning spray helps, or wiping them clear is a more hygenic use for the towelled bits of cycling gloves

 

[DWiggy]

Riding the the fog is like riding in a slow motion down pour...you get soaked...eventually!

 

[furball]

I find that when it's dark and foggy it's easier to see where the road stops and the verge starts if the front light on flashing mode. Probably because the light isn't constantly bouncing off the fog.

 

[cyberknight]

I wimped out monday night , on nights on unlit pea soup lanes was not my idea of safe, from being left in a ditch for dead point of view.