Off road in the dark..

Its that time of the year again...clocks back, so week-day rides after work are in the dark.
Every year I say I should pack it in, especially alone, but its just soooo atmospheric. Last night the memories come flooding back, the ruts you can barely see, the unexpected slides, the tree branches reaching out to grab, the ooops that was close, the where the hells the path gone? leaves stuck to muddy tyres rattling on the forks.
Mind you its tame XC I'm on about, nothing serious- on routes I'm very familiar with (never even think about a new route in the dark)
Last night; clear skies cresent moon , jupiter in the east, Arcturus in the NW 10mph feels like 30.... cold feet, hot head, the smell of the chip shop on the way home, the odd firework over the river ahhhhhhhh

Nicely put.

It is amazing, you feel like you're part of a secret world.

you should try it, best armed with some pre-planning and a gps, it can be amazing. sure you can't gun it but it adds a whole extra dimension of fear....

Nothing hones the skills like riding in the dark.

I went riding in the forest recently. Saw a heard of deer bounding across the tracks. The unmistakable sound of a bat. Bloomin' brilliant.


I feel I should plug my recently finished blog entry about my first MTB race, a 12hr night endurance race in Thetford Forest.

http://cottenhamcyclist.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-first-mtb-race-thetford-d2d.html

Unmistakable sound of a bat ?

I do a nice bit of offroad on my way home from work. Last night, in the middle of the forest, I got my first puncture in months.

Never had to change a tube by torch light before. But it gives you that "nothing can stop me" feeling.

Yes, a bit like this:
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajLY1EPybLY

Have you ever tried the cliff top path behind Whitburn Ranges when its icy! I was along there one dark morning last year, sheet ice on the path. It was an epic, could harding stay on the bike and laughed all the way along!

Great post. Yeah was out last night too, Ockham Common, racing my girlfriend, who was on horse back. Absolutely awesome.

Crescent moon was amazing.

I ended up comparing the feeling of flying through the darkness, encapsulated in a narrow beam of light, to the feeling of powder skiing in a snow storm. Mindblowing.

I have enough unlit towpath and trails nearby to night ride most of the year round.

In the last few weeks I have seen the usual foxes and rabbits, rats, shrews, a huge bat population in the dis-used buildings along the canal and the latest edition is the badger living in the old railway sidings.

The other week I was actualy struck on the side of the head by a bat, but then thats a hazard of head torches that attract insects.

I love riding at night through Tilgate forest here in Crawley. It is amasing what you see or dont see or hear
mind you just need to relax for one moment and you are either smacked in the face with a branch or off..lol
great fun though.
Bob G.

You must have a very high range in your hearing!

I wish I did, I have to use a detector to hear anything higher than a Pipistrelles social call (they are at a lower frequency).

That would be fantastic cycling round the woods at night, hearing bats forage without having to use modern technology!

Lucky you!!

For all I know I could have heard a Pipistrelles social call !?! I don't hear them when riding, it was while we were stopped. I didn't think I was that unusual with my hearing, my riding partner heard it too. Come to think of it I find those cat scaring devices very irritating and those teenager dispersal devices (the mosquito alarm) I could hear those too - I am nearly 40.

Unrelated, last year I saw my first live badger, as apposed to a flat one on the road. Flippin' massive ! And last year I spooked my self standing alone in a very dark open field with only my torch light, heard a noise, turned and saw an entire heard of cows just 15 yards away all staring at me. I had no idea they were there.

The wife thinks I am nuts.


Does anyone get that feeling that you shouldn't be out in the night in strange places ? I keep thinking I will get stopped by the police and questioned, or come across a burglary or dogging or cottaging or something !

I would be bloody careful about being in a field full of cows at night

My off road commuting route takes me alongside a river with sloping sandy banks in places. Often the back wheel will 'do it's own thing' and I have to be very careful not to come off the bike. Last time I rode that route because of all the heavy rainfall the sand seemed to have washed away some and the slope had got steeper (made me think of velodrome). It's not too scary during the daylight hours cos you can see everything around you but at night .....makes your heart race that's for sure!

You should just be prepaird with some big bright lights


Thats what i do Sometimes i kinda think i no where i am

I carry a foil emergency bag when I'm out in the country at night, a simple fall could immobilise you with a broken bone and you could be somewhere quite remote.

Many years ago an elderly walker fell off the bank into the River Irwell near my house; he broke something and wasn't found until the next morning after he had lain half in and half out of the water all night. I remember the Police coming in the pub asking if anybody had seen him.

I have one in my saddlebag. Sound advice. Very sound advice based on my experience.