Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

I tend to leave home on the morning commute at about 5.30am.

Due to the angle of the sun as the days are getting shorter (ie sunrise is later so the sun is lower in the sky) it is getting dangerous when riding eastwards!

Just wondering if I am the only one who uses strategies to avoid these risks??

My route is mainly north - south, but on the easward bits I have to admit that if I am turning right at traffic lights on one of the streets I use, I am likely to go through the red arrow rather than sit like an unseen speedbump in the right hand lane for through traffic to hit, and on another section if there is traffic behind me I head for the footpath instead of staying on the road, which I don't do when the sun is higher in the sky....

It just isn't worth taking the risk of not being seen due to the glare

Was thinking the exact same thing as I was riding home today. The sun is definately getting lower, and was wondering exactly how visible I was to drivers trying to shield their eyes from the glare.

Yep, my morning commute at the moment is a blinding due Easterly ride. I hope I cut a fine sillouette

Yesterday at 6am, riding thru parkland next to the Eastlink Tunnel in Melbourne.
Very dark, fog, and the track zig zagging about. A few times I had "Oh Sh!" moments where the track suddenly changed direction and I was heading into the gravel. And then there were cyclists coming the other way with their own blinding lights.... like an oncoming car with High Beams on.

Time for Daylight Savings to be over.

From another thread:

familyguy wrote: +1. Daylight is getting to that stage of being dangerous right about now. Sunlight into drivers eyes + the end of a day = take extra care. I've had no issues the last few weeks, but I decided that yesterday was my last commute at least until the sun has set when I leave work. I generally ride east, coming out of the sun, so I know people cant see me that well. I dont like low sun angles.

I felt as though I had to do the "I'm not hanging around here waiting to get run into" trick coming home. That tells me its time to wait until dark. Not long to wait for daylight saving to end though.

Jim