Initially somewhat dubious...

I just got back from my first-ever nighttime bike ride. During our long summer days, I'd been really good about going grocery shopping on my bike once a week. But with fall in full swing, these northern latitudes get dark really early. It's typically dusk by around 5:30 and the sun has set by 6:00. I've had a headlight and blinkie lights for a while, but those never seemed quite enough to actually plan an entire trip in the dark.

Enter the Down Low Glow bike light from Fossil Fool. It's a neon bike light and casts a nice, strong light all around my bike, making me feel far more visible on the roads than I previously did. I got a single tube in fossilized amber (click for photo of someone else's bike with the light).

I was initially somewhat dubious about purchasing the light, as it seemed somewhat frivolous and pricey. But I eventually decided I was more likely to actually go shopping at night if I had one. I'm glad I got it; I do feel safer, and it's actually really fun to ride around inside a neon halo.

Once one has a cool new toy, the inclination is to show it off. While biking to the grocery store, I fancied that several bicyclists were checking out my cool down low glow. And I'm quite sure that at least one guy gave me an approving grin. The height of ecstasy was when a man stopped me as I was preparing to leave Safeway and asked, "What kind of lights are those?" I launched into a discussion on the new bike light and how cool it was, when I realized he was giving me a strange look. "Those blinky ones," he asked in confusion, "What makes them blink?" "Oh," I said, completely deflated, realizing he was asking about my completely ordinary LED bike lights. He commented about how many I had (two on the bike, one on my back) and marveled at how they could run on two AAA batteries.

On the way back, I saw a child excitedly pointing at my bike from inside an SUV. I want to think he was also checking out my cool neon bike light, but perhaps my blinking lights are far more exciting than I previously realized.