[RideND]

Night Riding+Insufficient Lighting+Deer+Loose dirt=

Tonight me and my friend went for a night ride on a local cross country trail. It was my first night ride on trails. The first section was one of the scariest things I have ever done.


It started out with some switchbacks and a little downhill which wasnt too bad but way harder than it normally is. Then we swing it around and into some trees. I couldnt see jack and the trees were about 6 inches away on each side. There were deer all over the place not helping out my situation. We make it out of there and get to some more fun stuff.


We went the opposite way then we normally do after that because there was no trees on that side. It was a totally different beast being at night and the opposite way. We got a lot of light from the interstate so this part wasnt too bad. After the climb we turned around and went down the downhill which was sweet.

All in all it was a good ride but scary as heck. Next time I will have better light. I also slid out on about 4 or 5 turns which I almost took a digger.

P.s. This concludes my longest post ever.
________
Kitchen Measures

 

[chicodude]

night rides can be a blast if you have good equipment
________
PinkPussyCat

 

[Langer]

I started night riding this last winter. I successfully used a cygo lite night rover. Its either 10 or 16watts. I defiantly recommend at least 10watts of good light for a fun night ride. I also dont recommend watching Dawn of the Dead the night before the ride and riding alone.

 

[TreeSaw]

Night riding is awesome when you have good equiptment. We have similar troubles with the deer too...they seem to enjoy running around in front of us

 

[splat]

Night riding Kicks Azz.

but you have to have good lights to really enjoy it !


I use a Home made system that uses a 25 watt Haloger Spot light, That I Mount to my Helemt.


Advice I can say is always bring some sort of emergency light with you just in case..

Here is my Helmet after one ride.
on the left side is an Experimantel 25 WHite LED light ( it is being rebuilt woth 45 LEDS )
on the right side is my 25 Watt halogem Spot light, the fiture was taken from a Track Light.
and on my front a Little 5 LED head lamp made for hiking but works great for focusing on stuff up close or while stopped and you have your main Light off.

And riding in the snow in the dark becomes a way of life in the winter

 

[Curiouscaptian01]

yeah night rides sound cool....

The only one I ever did was in a cow pasture. It was a full moon so we had tons of light and no trees to block it. It was really fun, if you ever are looking for some good single track just watch were the cows walk. They create perfect tight single track. Fun stuff.

 

[RideND]

Splat- Very impressive set up you got there. I bet that would have made it look like daylight compared to what we had.

Curious- That is basically what we have around here for trails is cow paths that we thought, "hey, a little work and we can turn these into bike trails."
________
Lovely Wendie

 

[splat]

Originally posted by RideND
Splat- Very impressive set up you got there. I bet that would have made it look like daylight compared to what we had.

Curious- That is basically what we have around here for trails is cow paths that we thought, "hey, a little work and we can turn these into bike trails."

and at night the trails look totally different, I have gotten turned around and lost , on trails I know Likr the back of my Hand.


We too also Have the deer too. Its funny when you see them at a distance ,they see you , and start to approach you.

also want to check out some other Home made stuff
A home made light thread on Nemba

or here are some night riding Pics

1st one here on ride monkey
another thread

 

[hardtail_schmuk]

moonlight

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Originally posted by splat
and at night the trails look totally different, I have gotten turned around and lost , on trails I know Likr the back of my Hand...

Yeah dat.

I have spent a lot of time real confused at night. Back and forth about six times trying to find the turn in a familiar trail.

J

 

[wooglin]

Originally posted by splat
Here is my Helmet after one ride. On the left side is an Experimental 25 white LED light ( it is being rebuilt with 45 LEDS ); on the right side is my 25 Watt halogen spot light (the fixture was taken from a Track Light).

And on my front is a little 5 LED head lamp made for hiking, but it works great for focusing on stuff up close or while stopped when you have your main light off.

Good lord its Darth Vader!!

PS--Edited the quote for English (I think, its a bit technical).

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Originally posted by wooglin
Good lord its Darth Vader!!

PS--Edited the quote for English (I think, its a bit technical).

If you sign up for a night ride with splat, carry a fire extinguisher in case that thing ignites!

J

 

[splat]

Originally posted by johnbryanpeters
If you sign up for a night ride with splat, carry a fire extinguisher in case that thing ignites!

J

Hey I only had One actually catch fire! Some of the others , just Smoldered a little bit.

 

[golgiaparatus]

Originally posted by splat
Night riding Kicks Azz.

but you have to have good lights to really enjoy it !


I use a Home made system that uses a 25 watt Haloger Spot light, That I Mount to my Helemt.


Advice I can say is always bring some sort of emergency light with you just in case..

Here is my Helmet after one ride.
on the left side is an Experimantel 25 WHite LED light ( it is being rebuilt woth 45 LEDS )
on the right side is my 25 Watt halogem Spot light, the fiture was taken from a Track Light.
and on my front a Little 5 LED head lamp made for hiking but works great for focusing on stuff up close or while stopped and you have your main Light off.

And riding in the snow in the dark becomes a way of life in the winter

THose little petzl lights rock, I have 2 of them. 1 is the old model with the 3 leds, it broke for a while and I have since fixed it. And the other one is a 4 leds and several brightness settings and a flash setting

 

[DRB]

Originally posted by splat
Hey I only had One actually catch fire! Some of the others , just Smoldered a little bit.

I was just thinking about how I burned the ever living hell out of my fingers changing one of those little track lights. Those little mothers get way HOT. I can't believe the helmet doesn't just burst into flames...

It would suck for splat to be this without the smile

Or maybe this

Or do you ride with an aluminum foil head wrap...