Tunnel Tips
Though tunnel entrances can provide welcome relief from
the hot sun or the threat of a lightning strike in an electrical storm, they
usually are nasty obstacles for cyclists. The deafening, rumbling echoes of
trucks and cars; unreliable lighting; poor ventilation; narrow lanes and the
absence of sidewalks can all converge to make a tunnel traverse a nerve wracking
experience. We avoid them if we can but sometimes it's just not possible.
The very worst situations are when something changes once
inside a tunnel. A couple of
times we've confidently ventured into a wide and well lit tunnel only
to have it quickly narrow and dim once well inside. Another time we had a
dreadful experience when going through a long, steep, curving tunnel a second
time and discovering the lighting was out when just a few days prior it was well
illuminated.
Planning Ahead
One long term solution to improving your vision in tunnels
is to increase your intake of carrots. Years ago Bill proved it to himself that
increasing his Vitamin A intake with carrots really did noticeably improve his
night vision, just like the nutrition books said. We make it a habit to eat a
carrot a day to support our night vision, even when abroad. It's also available in multi-vitamins,
but there are concerns in the medical literature regarding the safety of
the vitamin formulation most often used in supplements.
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Learning to spot the tunnel symbol on your maps is the first
skill in tunnel management so that if you can't avoid them, you at least know
that one or more is on a day's route. We make sure that our reflective
Illuminite vests and extra lights are handy when packing in the morning if
tunnels are a part of the day's ride.
We've drawn the line on weight and price economy on the side
of only having 1 headlight between the 2 of us. Since it is our policy to never
ride at night, the headlight is essentially only used in tunnels and is primarily
for being seen by motorists. . In addition, the other visibility aids that are
always in place are good taillights on each bike and reflective patches on our
helmets (that we applied), on the backs of our Shimano sandals and on the ends of our Vaude or Ortlieb panniers.
We now have tires with reflective strips on each side and I usually have some type of light on the
back of my helmet.
Scouting the Tunnel
Once at a tunnel, we take time to look for a bypass road
as sometimes the old road is still passable. We've shuttled our bikes and gear over
barricades to get on some old roads and other times have found openings
just for bikes. More than once we've gone half the length of the
tunnel on the old road only to find it's impassable, usually due to the debris
of a rock slide or too much of the road has dropped away. But other times we've
delighted in a scenic road without traffic that affords grand ocean or mountain
views.
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Once we've determined there is no bypass, we size up the
situation at the tunnel entrance. First, we assess the width of the lanes, the
width of any sidewalks, the amount of traffic, the amount of debris or obstacles
on the roadway and sidewalks, the amount of uphill grade and
the lighting to decide whether to walk or ride. Regardless if we walk or ride,
if the tunnel is long or the lighting is poor, we'll don our Illuminite
reflective vests for better visibility. We also have added blinking fob lights
by Cateye to our arsenal, and we'll slip one on each arm for more visibility. I
also have a fabric strip cut from an old Illuminite vest to drape over the back
rack gear on my bike, as I am the caboose in our duo through tunnels.
Riding Through
Bill has the headlight on his bike, so he goes through first.
I follow with the better rear view illumination from the helmet lights and
reflective fabric strip. We've found that 2 people can get through an unlit
tunnel with 1 headlight, but learned the hard way that 3 cannot. Based on that
experience, I now carry a Petzl headlamp in with my light fobs to have handy in
an unexpectedly dark tunnel. I loop the headlamp's elastic strap around my aero
bars, which directs the light at a good angle. It's not bright enough to ride
through a completely dark tunnel, but it's sufficient to help me navigate if the
lighting in a tunnel disappears.
If it's a bright day and you are traveling through an unlit
tunnel, roll into it to the point where it is dark and wait at the curb.
Wait a couple of minutes until your eyes adjust to the diminished light. This is
especially important on a downhill tunnel as you'll travel much faster than your
eyes can adjust. Going uphill it is less important as your pedaling speed is
more closely aligned with the speed at which your eyes switch over to night
vision.
If you suddenly find yourself blinded by darkness as has
happened to us a couple of times, get your feet on the ground, turn your front wheel sharply to
the right and very slowly walk with the bike until you hit a curb or a wall. We
did this successfully once and another time I dumped over when my front wheel
hit a post on the sidewalk's edge. (It was surprisingly frightening to go down in pitch
black.) Once at the curb, you can safely shuffle along until your situation
improves with a passing
car providing some needed light, activating a flashlight, or benefiting from reflected daylight at the
exit. We also had trouble in one unlit tunnel with
weak batteries in the headlight. We were startled to discover that riding into
sudden darkness in a tunnel is extremely disorienting and both times we tended
to end up out in the center. An account of our harrowing experiences in
unlit tunnels is on the last half of our 2005 journal #6, "The Lake District"
under the heading "Tunnel Vision".
Please send us an email if you have any advise for making tunnels safer or more tolerable.
