I mentioned this on the 'equipment' topic but it might really be a conversation of its own - namely, bright and/or dim lights, and the conflict they provoke.
Now that my new commute allows me to avoid the Roseburn path, I prefer to stick on road after dark. Why? Because there's just too much agro between the 'lit' and the 'vaguely lit'.
I hasten to add that being genuinely dazzled is not what this is about - I'm just as likely as the next man to object if I'm being lasered at close quarters.
But what really gets my goat is the way that many cyclists object to *well adjusted* bright lights, seemingly on principle alone. Almost universally these riders have equipped themselves with the most token of blinkies, which I wouldn't dare to ride with in Edinburgh traffic.
Last winter when my girlfriend and I both rode out the path towards Fife, we would regularly get moaned at - but when I went ahead to compare, it seemed perfectly fine to me. This year I rode the path for the first couple of days after the clocks changed, then binned it for Leith Walk instead.
If people choose to ride strictly by ambient light, that's fine by me - but what's with this desire to make everyone else do the same? We have the technology now to see where we're going without even needing to recharge more than once a week - shouldn't we be embracing it?
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