Night riders - mentalists?

cee

.blitz wrote:

cee wrote:

Did I mention that the trails are empty?

Cannock has a thriving sub-culture of night riders (as well as certain other kinds of nightlife ) and there are always tiny clusters of intensely bright lights bobbing along the trails.

Having said that it could always be the other kinds of nightlife...

Oh sure...there are other folk there....but it' not exactly a sunday lunchtime is it!

I love seeing the lights of other groups bobbing along

Alex

If your forest has an established "night riding night", like Cannock's Wednesday/Thursday, then do it that night. Let the forest have a rest on the other nights as nightriders do disturb the wildlife.

.blitz

cee wrote:

...but it' not exactly a sunday lunchtime is it!

No, but it's not far off on some nights

cee wrote:

I love seeing the lights of other groups bobbing along

There was a big group coming the other way one night last week. There must've been twenty or so winching up a fireroad with enough lumens between them to literally turn night into day. It was like something out of Close Encounters

Wallace1492

Superb club run last night up Mugdock/Carbeth. Pissed it down all night, so stayed to the more main trails, which were themselves absolutely soaking.

I try and avoid the smaller singletrack in really bad weather as 1. Would be cut to ribbons by the bikes, and 2. Would not be much fun as there is plenty of deep mud.

Lights lasted well in the rain even without the batteries being in poly bags. Looking forward to a lot more of the same.

miss notax

I love night riding

It's actually easier than riding in the daytime as you can't see that scary drop / tree / horse / whatever to the side of the trail that would usually distract you - you just have to concentrate on what's in front of the bike!!

.blitz

That's a good point. I tend to over-analyse obstacles during the daytime but at night the distractions are minimised and because of that I ride a lot smoother.

miss notax

.blitz wrote:

That's a good point. I tend to over-analyse obstacles during the daytime but at night the distractions are minimised and because of that I ride a lot smoother.

Yup, night riding always reminds me that I actually don't need to be worrying about all this cr@p - it really is what's in front of me thats the most important!! Obviously I instantly forget this in daytime and DO spent my time distracted by the drop i'm not heading towards 5 metres away....

Anonymous

.blitz wrote:

That's a good point. I tend to over-analyse obstacles during the daytime but at night the distractions are minimised and because of that I ride a lot smoother.

That reminds me of the "Abel" Section at Coed y Brenin.
It descends along a ridge, and used to have a very steep, tree-filled slope on your right. I used to wonder how bad things would go if you went way too fast over one of the small drops before a left hand bend, and ended up pinballing through the trees.
Could have been nasty.

It's not a problem anymore, since they've cut all the trees down, leaving stumps all the way down the bank, and made the drops far far bigger.
Erm, yeah

MacAndCheese

I love night riding, only in a group though. I'd miss out on so much riding time if I didn't(after work is often the only time I get to myself). Also the dark can make your boring old local trails fun again. Strongly recommend a helmet mounted light - particularly if you like the twisty stuff -if fact I'd go so far as to say that if you want/can only afford one light than mount it on your head.

F@RRR

give it a go , if for no reason other than to experience choking on a moth :shock:

bartimaeus

F@RRR wrote:

give it a go , if for no reason other than to experience choking on a moth :shock:

I find that as long as I don't put a torch in my mouth then this is not an issue :shock: .

I've been buzzed by bats; I've had an owl fly over my shoulder; and I was very nearly taken out by an errant badget... But moths? Not a problem so far.

Mytchett Mike

booldawg wrote:

OK - you've sold it to me. I'll give it a go :roll:

and even better in the snow..............

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You're only in Bordon - try www.tunnelhilltrolls.co.uk

Mike

Mental Mickey

My first night ride involved coastal paths with trails right next to the cliff edge, wooden bridge with nothing to stop you falling etc..

Then I saw it again in daylight the next day. :shock:

Pic borrowed and not taken by me.

colt

I was at cannock a couple of weeks ago with just a bar mounted light,

Great fun was had on the final descent of the monkey especially the jumps, as all my light did was light up the lip of the jump and then nothing beyond ,it almost felt at times I was jumping off into a pitch black abyss

Best fun I've had in ages

Mark_K

Just got back from taking my lad out on his first night ride and he loved it, as he put it everything goes into warp as you rush past the trees in the dark 8) And he beat me to the top of our main climb for the first time tonight :x Ohh and he's 11 :shock: