Night rides - gotta love 'em

.blitz

After spending all of yesterday entertaining some guests, our visitors had barely got out of the door before I was getting kitted up and ready to go out.

7:45 was a bit late to start a 20-mile evening spin but I put the lights in the CamelBak and 45 mins later I was eating a Snickers near to section 13 of FtD. I did my favourite sections in the fading light then took in some entertaining off-piste action on the ride back. I was smokin' by the time I got back to the tarmac

Bike. Night. Lights.

Danlube

Good stuff. I do not ride in the dark, i'm too scared to

+ I aint got any decent lights

chris281192

after last winter i rarely ride my mtb in the day, at night it just seems to have a magic feel to it. LOVE IT! oh, and i also love my hope lights, wouldnt be the same without them

.blitz

Danlube wrote:

Good stuff. I do not ride in the dark, i'm too scared to

+ I aint got any decent lights

It's magic, esp this time of year when it's not even cold at night, it's just...dark. OK sometimes the shadows of the ferns on the trail look like giant, scary claws and suicide moths get in the way but you get used to it

Danlube

.blitz wrote:

OK sometimes the shadows of the ferns on the trail look like giant, scary claws and suicide moths get in the way but you get used to it

HAHA and you think thats gonna make me head out on a late night ride

My local trail closes its doors at nightfall so would have to make my own night route up.

homers_double

I love night riding, more in the winter than summer though as I dont have to wait until 10pm until it gets dark.

I've got lumis and love em, I could do with a decent head torch though.

RealMan

Exposure joystick all the way. Love it.

And is that litter on your decking???? Clean that up.

cat_with_no_tail

I was going to stay in tonight, but reading this post has inspired me to go out and give my new lights a good test.
Probably head out about 8:30pm for a quick 90min blast round the local woods. Rather looking forward to it now

.blitz

My excuse was that I needed to test the burn time of my new batteries before it gets proppa dark

The phrase 'road safety' always works if there are any objections.

Ghengis

Nothing better in my view. It sharpens you up and focuses your mind on the trail. Of course good lights make all the difference.
Hope Vision 2's for me with extra battery - absolutely brilliant for the money. Add a Petzel head torch and I have no excuses for hitting anything. Or course I still do

Paulie W

I enjoy night riding on routes that I know reasonably well but have had some pretty hairy experiences when out on unfamilar routes in the dark!

delcol

i miss those dark evenings, can't wait to don the lights again and hi the moors,,

thoose scary sheep with their evil red eyes. that warewolf that can't keep up with me on my bike,.. not seeing another sole out on the trail,.. bring back autum..

Ghengis

Talking of sheep. One night last winter (before I got my new lights) I hit a dead sheep up on the Hexham Common moors. The bloody thing had me over the bars and into the peat bog it had probably drowned in.

stumpyjon

Got a Hope 4 LED for Mountain Mayhem, only really got one proper night ride in before the nights got really short. Lookig forward to getting out in the dark again with the new lights proper, oh and of course two Tesco torches on my helmet not that I want to dredge that thread up again

cat_with_no_tail

Was out last night. Left about 9pm for 90mins.

One thing I had forgotten from last year was the number of suicidal bunnies that come out at night. They were EVERYWHERE. So unpredictable too, some leg it back into the hedges, some freeze, some try to race you down the track (they are my favourites), some try a mixture of the above.

If you are really good, you can shepherd some of them by moving the beam of your light too :twisted:

stumpyjon

Someone's been watching too much Kung Fu Panda ^^

cat_with_no_tail

It's my kids..............................................honest :oops:

Cracking good film though

Northwind

Night riding's great, weirdly I think I prefer riding in winter to summer... Just wrap up a little warmer (it's easier to wrap up warm than it is to cool down in summer), pack the waterproofs, set out at 3pm, ride through the sunset (and the sunsets up in the hills by mine are ace) then ride home in the dark, in time for tea. Brilliant... Sunshine gets dull after a while. I really miss my winter sun and frozen trails.

RealMan

Northwind wrote:

Night riding's great, weirdly I think I prefer riding in winter to summer...

I get this weird thing half way through summer when I wish it was winter. And then when it is winter, I wish it was summer. I just love them both.

There is a thrill about beating nature, and riding no matter what the weather throws at you.

I do love those rides that start at 7pm, in the daylight, and you don't get home until 1am, when its pitch black, and while everyone else is in bed or watching f***ing EastEnders, you know you've been out having fun. It almost feels.. Illegal - you're breaking the norm, and it feels like stealing time or something. It makes you feel alive.

However, in the winter its great when you get a perfectly dry night, and you're wrapped up warm, and you stop at the top of a climb, your breath drifting away in clouds, and everyone's steaming from the effort. And those rides where you didn't quite put enough socks on, and your feet turn to blocks of ice for the last 20 or 30 miles, and you get home, and its pain pain pain. Those are the rides you remember.

.blitz

RealMan wrote:

I do love those rides that start at 7pm, in the daylight, and you don't get home until 1am, when its pitch black, and while everyone else is in bed or watching f***ing EastEnders, you know you've been out having fun. It almost feels.. Illegal - you're breaking the norm, and it feels like stealing time or something. It makes you feel alive.

Think that pretty much sums it up, although I'm generally back before 1am

Cannock Chase is popular with walkers and horse riders but there's that magic 1/2 hour of twilight when they've all gone home and you have the place to yourself. Then as darkness falls, you see a intensely bright light bombing through the woods. Then another. And another.

Belv

RealMan wrote:

I do love those rides that start at 7pm, in the daylight, and you don't get home until 1am, when its pitch black, and while everyone else is in bed or watching f***ing EastEnders, you know you've been out having fun. It almost feels.. Illegal - you're breaking the norm, and it feels like stealing time or something. It makes you feel alive.

I'm inspired. That should be on a poster somewhere 8)

Dr Tinkle

Similarly inspired. Any one got any advice for buying lights? Do you get what you pay for or are there bargains to be had?
Or, could you wave me in the direction of a link to an old thread?

GT-Roman

Dr Tinkle wrote:

Similarly inspired. Any one got any advice for buying lights? Do you get what you pay for or are there bargains to be had?
Or, could you wave me in the direction of a link to an old thread?

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... 36&start=0

Had a great ride last night, had to come back early as batteries were dying. I will be glad when my new lights arrive (ordered the ones as recommended in the above thread)

Dr Tinkle

Thanks chap. Feel a bit of research coming on.
Wifes gonna love this. I like to think she's always happiest when I'm spending money on things she doesn't need. . .

Northwind

Dr Tinkle wrote:

Similarly inspired. Any one got any advice for buying lights? Do you get what you pay for or are there bargains to be had?

Search for Dealextreme... Still nothing else makes much sense, whether you go for the torches or the "proper" bike light, it's all good pretty much. The lights had some issues with the first production run but even those seem to have been fixed now. The torches in my own experience are absolutely bang on- tough, waterproof, 100% reliable.

I go on about this a bit- I don't like to see people recommending or buying a £400 light when £50 or so gets you 9/10ths of the performance- but last night was a fine example of why to spend less on lights... A mate was caught out with just a commuter light (hopeless) so I loaned him my bar light, one of my dealextreme P7 torches, and I rode on with just my helmet light. And it turns out that either one of my lights is brighter than another mate's dual Minewts and his Joystick combined, and that's about £350 worth of light.

.blitz

Dr Tinkle wrote:

Any one got any advice for buying lights?

Don't get carried away trying to turn night into day.