Well, it started shortly before sunset and ended about an hour after sunset so I guess part of that counts as nighttime 
.
I'd wanted to see what the differences were between daytime and nighttime riding for some time. That's easier to do in winter with the short days so when I did a quick trip down to Santa Cruz, CA yesterday I decided to delay my return to check things out. I came back via Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) through Half Moon Bay and then CA-92. Sunset was right as I hit Pescadero.
It was an interesting experience. The riding itself wasn't too different from daytime. Other than the bozo who thought it would be cool to turn on his flashers and slow to about 20 MPH to watch the exact moment of sunset, rather than just pull off the road to admire it; he gave me an opportunity to blow past him at what was officially nighttime.
But I found the loss of "peripheral awareness" -- because most of what you can see gets constrained to the area illuminated by your own and other vehicles' headlights -- somewhat disturbing. Granted, the actual "threat" increase wasn't all that great. There are very few side roads, or even pullouts, along that stretch of CA-1 so it's not like vehicles could appear out of nowhere (that's why I chose that route for the experiment; although you do have to be more concerned about wildlife stepping onto the road since they tend to come out at night). But the perceived threat level was higher as a result of the narrowed visual field.
I'm glad I did it and will now be more comfortable doing it again. But I think, in general, I'll continue to try to avoid the need to ride at night.
.I'd wanted to see what the differences were between daytime and nighttime riding for some time. That's easier to do in winter with the short days so when I did a quick trip down to Santa Cruz, CA yesterday I decided to delay my return to check things out. I came back via Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) through Half Moon Bay and then CA-92. Sunset was right as I hit Pescadero.
It was an interesting experience. The riding itself wasn't too different from daytime. Other than the bozo who thought it would be cool to turn on his flashers and slow to about 20 MPH to watch the exact moment of sunset, rather than just pull off the road to admire it; he gave me an opportunity to blow past him at what was officially nighttime
.But I found the loss of "peripheral awareness" -- because most of what you can see gets constrained to the area illuminated by your own and other vehicles' headlights -- somewhat disturbing. Granted, the actual "threat" increase wasn't all that great. There are very few side roads, or even pullouts, along that stretch of CA-1 so it's not like vehicles could appear out of nowhere (that's why I chose that route for the experiment; although you do have to be more concerned about wildlife stepping onto the road since they tend to come out at night). But the perceived threat level was higher as a result of the narrowed visual field.
I'm glad I did it and will now be more comfortable doing it again. But I think, in general, I'll continue to try to avoid the need to ride at night.
