Mountain biking at night
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Dave and I went mountain biking one night last week. We do night rides sometimes, but usually it’s light when we start. This time, the entire ride was in the dark. We each had one more light than usual, and we found that the extra lights made a huge difference. Maybe this will expand our night-riding options.
There’s nothing quite like riding through the woods at night. All you can see is what’s illuminated by your lights, immediately in front of you. It’s hard to explain, but this video (not mine) demonstrates it very well. This video was taken on the Hesitation Point trail, which is more difficult than what we were riding, but hopefully you get the idea.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
After riding alone on empty roads hours before sunrise, I learned that darkness can be surprisingly spooky. Do one of those night rides in the woods alone and tell us about it.
October 28th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Chris – I did a night ride alone at BCSP a couple of years ago, the night before Halloween. Within the first five minutes, I saw a herd of about 30 deer – 60 glowing eyes – staring right at me. During a long downhill, I rode through a gaggle of turkeys standing on the trail (their eyes don’t seem to reflect in the light). After 60 minutes of spookiness, I decided that night riding alone wasn’t a good idea for several reasons. The problem is, I really like night riding. Moral of the story: I’m SO GLAD Michael moved back!
October 28th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Cool! I’ve never ridden singletrack in the dark. It looks like fun.
October 28th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
I’ve been riding some local (tame) paths / trails here in the wee hours of the morning. Certainly different in the woods in the dark.
I’m also a fan of long dirt road rides after dark (and before or well after last call!). Our fleche last spring was surreal in some places – rain coming down, no cars, quiet but for the hum of tires, lungs, and legs…. Just be sure to work out all the squeaks on the bike…