Solo night ride

tenfoot

SO,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, my usual night ride buddies all have something better to do tonight, or have picked up an injury.

I'm in two minds. Wimp out and stay at home :oops: or MTFU and go out on my own.

Opinions please.

oodboo

None of my mates have bothered getting lights so all my night riding is done alone. Just make sure you don't crash.

bartimaeus

I often ride alone at night... I tend to stick to familiar trails and take things easy on the downhills. My OH knows where I am - and I have my phone. You get to see a lot of wildlife on solo night rides (unless you are on Hope hubs I guess).

Moonlit summer night rides are my favourite.

Chinley Churner

love solo night riding... take a phone, let someone know your route, what time you should be back and then just go and have a good time.

sniper68

And remember..beware the moon,stay on the road and off t'moors

tenfoot

Cheers guys.

I stuck to a route I know well through my local woods. It's all a bit eerie riding through there on your own on a windy night - lots of creeks and rustling leaves.

I almost had a baby the first time endomondo updated me on my distance. :oops:

cycle monster

Just bear this in mind. The weird noises you hear are probably just the wind, the trees and leaves. Most of the time it is not a maternally enraged wild boar or an escaped tiger.

bartimaeus

Wait till you have an owl buzz you... :shock:

Iwingstein

Come and join Bedgebury Forest Cycle Club and do our nightrides. You'll never be alone again

ATB

Simon

MountainMonster

I still need to get myself some lights and go for some night rides, only done one in my life, but it was awesome!

mak3m

ibbo68 wrote:

And remember..beware the moon,stay on the road and off t'moors

i havent missed that dart board in 30 years

Herbie The Dog

ibbo68 wrote:

And remember..beware the moon,stay on the road and off t'moors

Oooops.

tenfoot

Iwingstein wrote:

Come and join Bedgebury Forest Cycle Club and do our nightrides. You'll never be alone again

ATB

Simon

I've been over to Bedgebury a few times, but not in the dark. My brother has talked about coming with me to a night ride there, but do you have to be a member? Difficult for me to get over regularly as I have two young children, so it's probably not worth me joining.

By the way - doing the Insomnia ride in September which I'm very much loooking forward to.

Iwingstein

Membership is about £65, but you do get free parking and use of the jetwash (via free tokens after showing membership card to Quench) which costs 33 to non members..

Daily parking charge is £8, so assuming you go, then use the jet wash (£8+£3 being £11) you won't take long to recoup you membership costs.

Nightrides are a right laugh and are done each section at a time waiting for slowest rider or whoever is tailender.

They start at 7pm on Wednesdays though on committee night (being 1st wed of month), they are moved to Thursday at 7.30.

A friend has informed me that I'm doing Insomnia too

ATB

Simon

Pumpkin Positive

My default is solo night riding as family life and work make it difficult to ride during daylight hours. I've tumbled a few times but nothing serious - yet.

I have a few rules that I try to stick to;

I only ride where I know I have phone reception
I carry a GPS so I can relay the position of my broken body in the event of an accident,
I carry a fleece jacket & space blanket - cold is likely to be your greatest enemy if you hurt yourself or have fix a puncture
I wear body armour and knee pads (even for reasonably tame rides)
The usual tools / spares / snacks

supafly1982

tenfoot wrote:

SO,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, my usual night ride buddies all have something better to do tonight, or have picked up an injury.

I'm in two minds. Wimp out and stay at home :oops: or MTFU and go out on my own.

Opinions please.

i get that all the time, people wimping out, oh i see a bit of rain, oh i dont have a key to my house so i need to go home now, ive heard loads, they are quick to bang on about wanting to go but never do, then when some do after a half decent ride it scares them off lol

tenfoot

Iwingstein wrote:

Nightrides are a right laugh and are done each section at a time waiting for slowest rider or whoever is tailender.

They start at 7pm on Wednesdays though on committee night (being 1st wed of month), they are moved to Thursday at 7.30.

A friend has informed me that I'm doing Insomnia too

ATB

Simon

Sounds good - i think I'm fairly fit, and generally get up all of the uphill sections of the red route bar one, so hopefully you wouldn't have to wait too long.

I have posted once or twice on the BOARS forum (under the name of spooner), and have been keeping an eye on the nightrides thread. May make it over sometime.

Out of interest, do you know if the insomnia route follows the red route?

Thanks

Phil

Paulkingk

I got chased by a horny Badger on my last night ride. i was alone and afraid

Stevo_666

tenfoot wrote:

Iwingstein wrote:

Come and join Bedgebury Forest Cycle Club and do our nightrides. You'll never be alone again

ATB

Simon

I've been over to Bedgebury a few times, but not in the dark. My brother has talked about coming with me to a night ride there, but do you have to be a member? Difficult for me to get over regularly as I have two young children, so it's probably not worth me joining.

By the way - doing the Insomnia ride in September which I'm very much loooking forward to.

Am gearing up to do a Bedgebury evening ride soon, just need to get kitted out with lights. Would not do it alone though as you can't get a phone signal in quite a large part of it and its a big place.

getonyourbike

Paulkingk wrote:

I got chased by a horny Badger on my last night ride. i was alone and afraid

that made me lol

Paulkingk

It's funny but also true.

cycle monster

I kept reading stuff on here about how good night riding was, so I thought I would give it a go. Decided to stick to some basic rules: never go alone, go somewhere flat and easy with good phone reception. So i got my lights and got excited with it. Went out on my own on a technical red route with no phone reception. Haven't looked back, except when I hear the wild boar and the tiger obviously. Some say I am crazy, the rest are just plain wrong. :shock:

.blitz

Dunno what all the fuss is about solo night riding. Been doing it since the mid-90s there are no werewolves, aliens, yetis (OK there are a few 575s) mad axemen or any of that sh*t.

The worst thing that could happen is you are on your favourite bit of twisty singletrack and there's a big, heavy bloke with a thermonuclear set of lights heading straight towards you

homers_double

Pumpkin Positive wrote:

My default is solo night riding as family life and work make it difficult to ride during daylight hours. I've tumbled a few times but nothing serious - yet.

I have a few rules that I try to stick to;

I only ride where I know I have phone reception
I carry a GPS so I can relay the position of my broken body in the event of an accident,
I carry a fleece jacket & space blanket - cold is likely to be your greatest enemy if you hurt yourself or have fix a puncture
I wear body armour and knee pads (even for reasonably tame rides)
The usual tools / spares / snacks

Me too, except I dont bother with the rules. Just let Mrs.D know roughtly where I'm going and take a phone.

t0pc4t

I tend to do all my riding alone and so night rides are pretty much the same, I'd echo what people have said. Stick to trails you know, take a phone and gear in case you're stuck there for a bit, tell the wife the names of the trails I'll be riding, agree a time to be back.

It's a pretty awesome experience being out there alone and hearing all the forest around you, I don't know if I'd enjoy it so much in a group. I would not enjoy being chased by any kind of badger though, those things scare the pants off me.

TownyDC

tenfoot wrote:

SO,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, my usual night ride buddies all have something better to do tonight, or have picked up an injury.

I'm in two minds. Wimp out and stay at home :oops: or MTFU and go out on my own.

Opinions please.[/quote

Hopefully Bruv, my knee will hold out this week and I'll be back out for a night ride next week.
Started night rides with bright lights just after Xmas, love the thrill, seems you go further and faster than in the day time, good sleep inducer too when you get home too.

tenfoot

Yeah - fingers crossed the knee will be repaired.

Deepunder

Solo night rides take some getting used to no matter how manly you are especially. It's amazing how noisy it is when your lungs are wheezing, its only when you stop you realise how fricking quiet it is.

I find the dark gets me pushing harder to get round but I do get a buzz from beating the winter.

I say, do routes you know like the back of your hand in case fog comes down and hold back a little on the downs (if possible ). Oh, and don't bother taking your iPhone on O2 network, you may find it won't even get a signal from a trig point, that's if the battery lasts the ride???

And remember, murderers never go out in the cold whipping rain these days so nothing to worry about there.

TownyDC

night ride on for this Thursday, need to make the most of the dark evenings before they disapear.
D

paulbox

TownyDC wrote:

night ride on for this Thursday, need to make the most of the dark evenings before they disapear.
D

I was thinking exactly the same!

Went out for a night ride a couple of weeks ago, first for many years and loved it. Bought a couple of new helmet mounted lights last week and went out with them for the first time last night and it was absolutely awesome! Being able to see where your head is facing is a major plus!

Night riding is so accessible now; when I bought my original light (Vistalite or something) it was £260 for one halogen headlight running off two frame mounted batteries. Very good at the time, but nothing compared to the two £17 led torches I just bought from Amazon, and these aren’t even the best ones you can get now. And another upside is that they run off regular rechargeable AA's so you can just carry spares in your Camelbak.

bartimaeus

TownyDC wrote:

night ride on for this Thursday, need to make the most of the dark evenings before they disapear.
D

Just head out later... or stay out longer. Once it's summer you will be glad of the cool night air.