Mountain Biking - night ride

i just had my first mtb night ride and all i have to say is wow...it's crazy different!

i had to bike through a paved forest road at night a couple weeks back, with no light. it was the weirdest thing. just biking along, complete silence around you, and all you can see is different shades of black, and i mean totally black, there was really no moonlight or any other light. i'd never done that before. i was preparing myself to run into a deer because i couldn't see ****. i was sober but man that exp. made me feel like i was tripping, it was just weird. total intense reliance on your senses!

8 or 9 years ago, I did a night ride alone on Halloween. a beautiful cold Moonlit night. It was fun but very spooky.

Careful. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

Yeah, hard to see Pittsburgh panthers at night

I was more worried about Connecticut Catamounts!

Now try it with a good front light and on a Tandem. Then find out that the pilot turns the front light off to get his night sight in and to save batteries.

Best light I have found for night riding is a helmet light. Enables you to see round corners instead of only where the bars point. And it helps you see see those beasties that lurk just out of sight of the main lights. Funny how those mad dogs you can see at the edge of the Lit area is a just a few Rabbits out for a midnight feast.

Aspen, Colorado. It got late, one of us got tired and the night came.... luckly my friend Dirk had a head lamp.... one of the best rides there. Thanks Dirk!