The joys of night cycling also require some precautions. Here's what you'll need to know to cycle safely at night.

Lights

If you ride at night you must, by law, use lights--a white light in front and a red light at the rear. You need a good lighting system. Most people need at least a 2 or 3 watt light on their handlebars. That's the bare minimum. You should, however, vary the wattage based on speed and terrain. If you're just commuting to work, then you don't need a lot of combinations, but if you're climbing slowly and descending fast, then you'll need higher power and broader beams, and you'll want to increase the wattage to around 10." You can purchase lights with digital controls that allow you to adjust the wattage accordingly,

Other musts include a rear, flashing red light, and make sure to put a lot of reflective tape on your wheels. That spinning around gets people's attention. Also put reflective tape anywhere on the rims and frame.

If you're riding off-road on a mountain bike, you'll need some type of head light or helmet light. On a mountain bike, you use your head to look to where you want to go. Before a turn you look around the corner, before the bike actually gets there, so all off-road cyclists should use both handlebar lights and head lights.

What to wear

Generally, white clothes work to improve visibility at night. The best clothing also has reflective panels. Bike shops sell jackets, shirts and lightweight vests that slip over your standard cycling clothing. Such clothes work in conjunction with lights and reflectors to define the cyclist's shape in the dark. You can also buy cloth or plastic reflective tape and stickers. They even sell glow in the dark clothing, such as vests, jackets and tights, which looks like normal fabric until you shine a light on it,

Be alert!

Be more cautious about speed, especially riding in areas you're not familiar with or different surfaces. The first rule is to always cycle defensively. Watch out for joggers, walkers, other cyclists and cars, and make sure they know you're there.

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