Alternatives to Sleeping Bags for summer camping

Specifically for cycle touring subjects & questions
crazydave789
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Joined: 22 Jul 2017, 10:21pm

Re: Alternatives to Sleeping Bags for summer camping

Post by crazydave789 »

Sweep wrote:
crazydave789 wrote:t, just flicking my light on and off when I saw something coming,

I'm sorry, I think you need to get out more, in the sun. This is not clever. Extremely inconsiderate to vehicle drivers. Dangerous for you. And maybe them. Attention can wander during daylight, even more at night, particularly on a hard ride, for a whole host of reasons I shouldn't need to list. How would you feel if vehicle drivers did this?


you obviously don't ride in the middle of nowhere late at night by which I mean 1-5AM, you can see cars coming a good mile away 99% of the time and a pathetic front light being switched on will hardly dazzle them or indeed warn them of your approach from behind they let you know in plenty of time. when batteries only lasted a couple of hours in halogen lights while the rear LED lasted forever you did what worked best. unlike the city the country goes to bed and I lived there. once your eyes accustom riding at night with a decent moon and the breaking dawn is a joy, modern lights make matters worse by being too bright so you are blind to everything but the road.

as an aside - I was one of the first in a country with a vistalite due to knowing the rep and got stopped the once by the police - an hour after I fitted it to my blackburn rack as a reflector/hidden light, not for anything wrong but because he had never seen a flashing rear light before (the first lights only had the one mode) (technically I was breaking the law because it was neither constant nor a filament bulb) explained it to him and he said he had no idea if it was illegal but if it was the law should be changed. I have no idea if they did change the law but if they didn't millions are breaking it day after day.

as to being courteous to oncoming drivers 90% OF THEM DON'T DIP THEIR LIGHTS FOR CYCLISTS, those that do get a wave, the rest get foul language.
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Sweep
Posts: 8444
Joined: 20 Oct 2011, 4:57pm
Location: London

Re: Alternatives to Sleeping Bags for summer camping

Post by Sweep »

crazydave789 wrote:you obviously don't ride in the middle of nowhere late at night by which I mean 1-5AM,



I have no idea why you are think that is so obvious and you are so presumptious I won't bother to explain/detail why your are wrong.


crazydave789 wrote:as to being courteous to oncoming drivers 90% OF THEM DON'T DIP THEIR LIGHTS FOR CYCLISTS, those that do get a wave, the rest get foul language.


90 per cent of drivers get foul language from you. You have clearly chosen your avatar name wisely.
Sweep
mercalia
Posts: 14630
Joined: 22 Sep 2013, 10:03pm
Location: london South

Re: Alternatives to Sleeping Bags for summer camping

Post by mercalia »

well I bought the DD Hammock quilt
http://www.ddhammocks.com/product/dd_hammock_quilt

behaved quite well on my summer hol to Portland Bill and then Exford, where one night it fell to 9C.

I was wearing as my norm other warm every day gear -cardigan and trousers but not my army softie jacket

Their claim that you can use it down to 2C is optimistic...unless it was just top layer
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pjclinch
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Joined: 29 Oct 2007, 2:32pm
Location: Dundee, Scotland
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Re: Alternatives to Sleeping Bags for summer camping

Post by pjclinch »

crazydave789 wrote:modern lights make matters worse by being too bright so you are blind to everything but the road.


For Some Values Of "modern lights". The really bright ones are for night-time MTB where there isn't actually a road, but you need to concentrate on your path almost exclusively in any case. A mid range modern LED with a well designed beam spread isn't nearly so bright as a weapons-grade MTB light but is bright enough to stand out for other road users.

crazydave789 wrote:as an aside - I was one of the first in a country with a vistalite due to knowing the rep and got stopped the once by the police - an hour after I fitted it to my blackburn rack as a reflector/hidden light, not for anything wrong but because he had never seen a flashing rear light before (the first lights only had the one mode) (technically I was breaking the law because it was neither constant nor a filament bulb) explained it to him and he said he had no idea if it was illegal but if it was the law should be changed. I have no idea if they did change the law but if they didn't millions are breaking it day after day.


They did change it, quite a few years ago. Years before they did I was talking to a policeman in the Lothian traffic division and he said they knew they were technically illegal but were quite happy with them.

crazydave789 wrote:as to being courteous to oncoming drivers 90% OF THEM DON'T DIP THEIR LIGHTS FOR CYCLISTS, those that do get a wave, the rest get foul language.


For Some Values Of 90%... Maybe it's just nicer people here, but with my mid-range B&M dynamo powered LEDs dips from oncoming traffic much more common than that.

Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
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andrew_s
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Joined: 7 Jan 2007, 9:29pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: Alternatives to Sleeping Bags for summer camping

Post by andrew_s »

pjclinch wrote:with my mid-range B&M dynamo powered LEDs dips from oncoming traffic much more common than that.

Down here too. Some even dip before coming round the corner.

I wonder if the non-dipping experience is due to using an LED bike light with a simple torch beam (i.e. almost everything that isn't German), which would dazzle a car driver and lead to retaliation, in the same way that many drivers will revert back to main beam if an oncoming car doesn't dip.
mercalia
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Location: london South

Re: Alternatives to Sleeping Bags for summer camping

Post by mercalia »

talk about topic drift - sleeping bags to lights :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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