Night Rides

[Onthedrops]

What are your thoughts regarding setting off for night rides? I'm talking about riding out late at night, say from around 10 0'clock onwards.
With the onset of summer (if it gets here!) I imagine it to be quite pleasant to set off on a quiet summers evening when the roads are very quiet and you have them to yourself. Not sure if I'd fancy unlit rural routes. - probably scare myself stupid with daft thoughts while riding!

Any body do it on a regular basis?

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Get a good light, and it dont matter where you go, or time.

 

[wheres_my_beard]

I go out weekly for evening/ night rides, and find that unlit back lanes offer the best cycling, for me anyway, away from the majority of traffic, and you get plenty of warning of vehicles from seeing their headlights long before you would be aware of them being about if travelling the same route in day light.

My night riding was made dramatically better by purchasing a good, powerful light. My first good light was £80 which was great, but was quickly superceded by a far better £25 rechargeable led light. Look up "Cree t6" led light on any good internet auction site (you know the one), and take a browse at the lights with separate battery packs. Lots of riders I know have bought these and have never looked back (its too dark lol). A good bright light helps pick put pot holes too, which is nice.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I don't do it very often but it can be magical, both solo or in group rides (especially the few Friday Night Rides that I've done, even if only for the string of silent dancing lights tracing their way through the darkness). Good lights, a spare layer of clothing. Two things. First you'll think you're going faster than you are. Secondly, hills are less daunting.

 

[Finnjävel]

I love riding at night when the weather's clear. I do it every chance I get. It's an amazing feeling, having the roads to yourself. And you see a lot more wildlife as well.

As for lights, I find a B&M Ixon IQ to be pretty much ideal. I'd like to go for a dynamo light, but I'm not ready to get another wheel for that purpose. For rear lights I have a Mars 3 on steady and some other smaller light on blinking.

But really, night riding isn't about the gear, at least for me. Any decent lights will do. Back in the day we used sidewall dynamos that were complete garbage by today's standards and still managed to stay on the road.

 

[slowmotion]

Lookee here...
http://fnrttc.blogspot.co.uk/

 

[Wobblers]

I'm just back from a night ride. My favourite is to ride round more rural lanes. You'll find a wonderful stillness that just can't be found at any other time, so certainly don't write off rural rides at night! Plus you get to see more wildlife - I actually encountered a live(!) badger the other day! Some roads that are ghastly during the day can be quite enchanting at night. You'll encounter far less traffic, and what vehicles you do encounter are generally much better behaved.

The main thing is to make sure your bike is in good order, and remember to take tools, inner tubes, patches and a pump with you - trying to fix things in the middle of nowhere in darkness is no fun. It's also a very good idea to run two lights both at the front and rear, in case one fails or you forget to charge the batteries.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

All this talk of lights, you bunch of utter utter pansies!
... I do have lights but only use the front light when I need too (on the roads, when I see people in front of me, etc, BUT on paths I know, its different, and I often 'Go silent'), because I found out years ago that actually, if you let your eyes acclimatise to the dark, you often see a lot more than if you are relying on a beam of light (working in a darkroom at the time probably helped too). The rear light generally stays on all the time, largely because its too much of a faff to switch on and off all the time.

It does help enormously if you know the route and any potential hazards of course, but there is nothing quite like cycling along a local path in the darkness, relying only on your senses and your knowledge of knowing *exactly* where you are!

Also, if there is someone out there in the darkness who is up to no good, then I don't want to give my position away. It seems to me that if someone has set up something for you to hit, then unless you are fortunate and see it beforehand, then you are going to hit it anyway, lights or no lights!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Actually, if I'm being honest, I find lights a bit of a faff. Full stop.

Maybe I have never had a decent set of lights, but I always tend to find them more trouble than they are worth and I just can't take them very seriously, so I only use them as a token safety measure when I need too, such as to alert people to my presence, make myself visible to potentially others at a sharp corner or other obstructions, when I'm on the roads, and so on.

I have never had a set of lights that have made me go 'wow!', and it seems I don't really need them anyway.
Just don't have a go at me if you find me out and about because I'm not using some zillion lux search light that can be seen from Jupiter, I'll rely on my own eyesight thanks, ok?

 

[Ticktockmy]

Night riding I find is great, it makes you more aware of what going on around you, really heightens the senses, I like others on here like to ride the small back roads, I also have the Worth way and Forest way near to me which makes good night riding, but at time its more like a cycle motorway, as peeps us it to get between Crawley and East Grindstead.
Night riding off road using bridleways can be quite exciting depending on the condition of the surface.
I use two lights one that produces mega zillions of eye burning lux for off road, on road I use a humble cateye just so others can see me.

 

[Wobblers]

All this talk of lights, you bunch of utter utter pansies!
... I do have lights but only use the front light when I need too (on the roads, when I see people in front of me, etc, BUT on paths I know, its different, and I often 'Go silent'), because I found out years ago that actually, if you let your eyes acclimatise to the dark, you often see a lot more than if you are relying on a beam of light (working in a darkroom at the time probably helped too). The rear light generally stays on all the time, largely because its too much of a faff to switch on and off all the time.

It does help enormously if you know the route and any potential hazards of course, but there is nothing quite like cycling along a local path in the darkness, relying only on your senses and your knowledge of knowing *exactly* where you are!

Also, if there is someone out there in the darkness who is up to no good, then I don't want to give my position away. It seems to me that if someone has set up something for you to hit, then unless you are fortunate and see it beforehand, then you are going to hit it anyway, lights or no lights!

Yebbut you live in Paisley!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Yebbut you live in Paisley!

How very dare you!

I live in Dumbarton thankyou!

 

[Wobblers]

How very dare you!

I live in Dumbarton thankyou!

Ah... spitting distance of Renton and Balloch then? That's even worse!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Ah... spitting distance of Renton and Balloch then? That's even worse!

THAT'S better!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Actually, Renton isn't as bad as it once was, and despite West Dunbartonshire supposedly being the second most violent place in Scotland, I have rarely actually had any problems because most of the violence happens in the estates which you wouldn't want to go anywhere near during the day never mind at night anyway!

That said, I have been known to cycle through rough parts of Clydebank like Whitecrook late at night before.