Cycling on Irish country roads

Not all country roads are created equal. There's plenty of then around me I wouldn't hesitate to cycle at night (with my lights on, obviously), but take, for example, the road from Two-Mile-House to Athgarvan in Co. Kildare. I wouldn't cycle that during the day, don't mind at night

Round where I live, simple answer is no.

No issue doing it during daylight hours, but not when it's dark.

How wide the road is would be another factor.

I used to do a lot of cycling at night round here, two rear lights and two front lights, one pointing down at the road and the other on the helmet, never had any issues with visibility, also knew the roads well so that helped.

I always found it safe, much less traffic and because of all the lights car generally slowed down as they probably weren’t sure what I was!

I just prefer the structured work on the smart trainer these days

I used to cycle out to Pollardstown Fen before dawn from Kildare town, doing scientific fieldwork. I just had an old dynamo set up; not sure how happy I'd be to rely on something like that now.

But I have to say, I absolutely loved that cycle. And the fen is incredible at dawn.

I'd be with the ones who say it's actually possibly safer once you've decent lights. I can only remember one close pass at night versus almost every spin during the day and that was deliberate by scumbags roaring out of the car who'd have done it any time. Cars are generally much warier and slow down around you. I've done a fair bit of night cycling in my time and even one over night 24 hr one.

Good lights not aimed high so they are blinding on coming cars. I always use two lights on back even on the dynamo bike and usually two for the front too. Not a fan of flashing rear lights think they are distracting and can cause target fixation. I prefer ones that pulse or breath. Usually keep one light on steady.

There are roads I do avoid even in the day time. N roads with a 100 limit and no hard shoulder are especially unpleasant though a few I cycle are unavoidable for short stints.

I don't think cyclists should ever use flashing lights. It signals that there is a problem or something that is not a moving vehicle. Due to my job I have cycled at night for years in various lighting conditions and definitely feel safer

Every day. Get good lights. Two lights front and two lights back. I use a strong steady light alongside a weaker flashing light, to try to help motorists with depth perception. You don't need to see your handlebars or gears, so I've given up on the head torch these days.

As everyone else has been saying, night feels far safer than day. Friends who have joined me on night spins have also commented on same: night feels way safer: fewer close passes, and oncoming traffic slows down more often.

Group spins are a bit more difficult, because you have someone else's lights in your face, and you can't see the road ahead as easily, as a result.

IME the natural light level isn't relevant to whether I'd ride a particular road or not.

It sounds like you are going to be commuting, and imo they are the worst type of road user to share a road with; maybe someone with God on their side trying to make 11am mass in Coolea (or wherever) driving both ditches in their 520d might be a close second.

If you are not happy riding that road when bright you are probably not going to be happy when its dark; it'll probably be a bit better but still not great.

I ride that road and similar regularly, it's lovely. Recently I rode it around 6pm and met 2 cnuts in about 2km, when typically I might meet 5 mannerly drivers in total in a 40km odd spin.

Look up cycle.travel and input your start and end points and that'll give you an idea of the best bike friendly route. I'm pretty map obsessed and like to map nice cycling routes, but even in areas I'm really familiar with that website will be match for me and often better and finding good cycling routes.

IME night riding is some of the best riding you can do, especially in the country side. Most of my riding this time of year will involve riding to some degree in the dark.

Decent lights with two at rear (as lads have mentioned already) are a must. Arm band type light on ankle is a winner for being detected quickly.

One steady, one flashing? fwiw I wouldn't generally, but as I don't trust my own capabilities wiring the dyno lights, I've been carrying backup (and have had to use the rear one!). If you're going to carry back up, might as well be on, and on the bike?

Having both on is a bit of a waste if your on a long spin and the reason for the spare is battery life.

Two lights because of redundancy for the most part. It happens rarely, but all lights die. I lose one a year or thereabouts.

Bring the backup, and use the backup so you know it works.

If you're only ever in groups you don't need double, obviously.

Agree with the previous poster that you can get a headache from the flashing light, so I have much lower strength on the flashing one always.