Road Cycling - Does anyone else go night riding?

I put my head light to good use tonight. I went out on my 12 mile blacktop nature trail route. I saw 4 deer in one place, 8 in another and 3 more in a third. I also spotted what I'm sure was a coyote. Riding a trail at night, with a good headlight, is about as good as it gets.

Anyone else go out late?

I put my head light to good use tonight. I went out on my 12 mile blacktop nature trail route. I saw 4 deer in one place, 8 in another and 3 more in a third. I also spotted what I'm sure was a coyote. Riding a trail at night, with a good headlight, is about as good as it gets.

Anyone else go out late?

Yeah I usually get around to parties on my bike in the summer and love riding up and down the streets lined with frat houses and stuff. Its cool just to be out late and see the sights. Occasionally I'll ride out into the country but its a little creepy and easy to get lost out there in the dark.

I used to ride under the street lights but where I live now there aint none so I keep it to the day time. I really did enjoy night time rides under the lights though, it's sort of surreal; the flow of energy seems to be more on the level (esp. riding my Panosonic fixie)

I love to ride at night. Matter of fact when I ride to work I have no choice, I have to be at work at 5am. :D I have seen many coyote, racoons, opossums, and deer. I was nearly ran over by a dear last fall on the way to work! :eek: One of the best night rides I was riding in a calm between two pastures and a sea of lightning bugs! I turned the lights off and it was like space trippin! ;)

After midnight the produce trucks leave the town just west of us and drive through our town to a main artery. These trucks are completely loaded and take forever to "get out of the hole". This means that if you are crazy (foolish) enough, you can drag race these trucks from stoplight to stoplight all the way out the highway. After they get onto the highway, I spend the time backtracking as recovery time. The police now know me and have quit stopping and questioning me. Most just wave and smile at the geek in lycra.
I use a light and a rear flasher but I rarely have to worry about other traffic. This is where my Cannondale really shows off, too. I run a 53/39 and a 11-21. This is just perfect. I end up drafting these semis to about 35-38 mph before they have to shut it down for a stoplight. Even though I'm drafting, that is just about the limit for my aging body. Just gotta be off the road by 2AM...the drunks drive home then.

I am a year round bike commuter. Basically this means that I spend 6 months riding to and from work in the dark. Now, riding in the dark with a fresh layer of snow, the moon shining bright... Ahhh, now that is a spritual event. :)

I did some night riding last year, during the early Winter months as the days got shorter. I drive a few km's to an industrial estate and do a circuit of the roads. It does get boring after an hour, but an hour of that is better than nothing. I was originally riding to the estate, but country roads aren't the safest place to be on a Winters night. I would hesitate to ride on any of the main roads at night, as there are no streetlights and the roads are either 60kph or 80kph.

CHEERS.

Mark

I ride at night fairly frequently, as a year-round bike commuter...quite a pleasure with appropriate lighting!

Yup. Took a ride at midnight tonight. There's something very nice about riding in the city at night that you don't get during the day.

Bakc a couple of years ago before my wife and I had a kid, my buddies and I would finish work at midnight and do some urban assualt on downtown Toronto till about three or four in the morning. That was alot of fun, no traffic, all the concrete to ride off of.

I just started night riding on my ten speed this past weekend as my dear wifey bought me a headlight and rear blinkie. She also got me a bike computer. Early father's day presents.
Anywho, I came up with a 40 kilometer loop that takes me through downtown Hamilton, to Burlington, down the lakeshore, back up hwy 20 and back home again. I averaged @30kms per hour and did this ride in under an hour and a half twice this weekend. I really enjoyed the fact that there was very little traffic after midnight and I basically had the entire road to myself.

For anyone familiar with my area, there is a large cemetary along Plains road in Burlington. The second night riding this loop, I noticed that there were about a million candles burning all over this cemetary. There was no traffic, all was deathly quiet(if you'll pardon the pun). I thought to myself that this would be the perfect place to get a flat or break a chain. I rode along waiting for the zombies to come and get me. I guess I've seen too many George Romero films.

Anyways, I'm loving the night riding. Working nightshifts allow me to get away when the wife and my little boy are sleeping. I call it "Cycletherapy", much cheaper than pcychotherapy and still keeps me from going insane.

Like the idea of no traffic..That might even be the case in LA, at 4 am? Wonder if in an isolated spot.. Rabbits and coyotes run amuck at night..Hard to avoid them in a car. Wonder if they would present a hazard at night. THey dart in front of you in an instant.

We're coming up to the time of the year when I'm at the office all day and night. I just love the feeling of gliding through a sleeping city.

I put my head light to good use tonight. I went out on my 12 mile blacktop nature trail route. I saw 4 deer in one place, 8 in another and 3 more in a third. I also spotted what I'm sure was a coyote. Riding a trail at night, with a good headlight, is about as good as it gets.

Anyone else go out late?

Go out after dark? Are you crazy? Don't you know monsters come out at night?

Like the idea of no traffic..That might even be the case in LA, at 4 am? Wonder if in an isolated spot.. Rabbits and coyotes run amuck at night..Hard to avoid them in a car. Wonder if they would present a hazard at night. THey dart in front of you in an instant.

Thats what the bunnyhop is good for :D

I ride at night, for at least some of the ride on all my brevets over 300 kms. This weekend I'm riding a fleche which starts at 7pm on May 21st and finishes at 7 pm on May 22nd - 24 hours of cycling.

I would be happy to go out at night...ANyway to get in my quota of miles.QUestion..Do you think you do serious, strenous rides at night..
Just nice to be out in the moonlight and riding..?
Think you really get your heart rate up at night. You might be slower, but guess a hill is a hill(climbing that is.) But you are not to override the range of your light, so that really has to slow you down...
Do you do it for exercise of just fun.. Or just for transportation...

I would be happy to go out at night...ANyway to get in my quota of miles.QUestion..Do you think you do serious, strenous rides at night..
Just nice to be out in the moonlight and riding..?
Think you really get your heart rate up at night. You might be slower, but guess a hill is a hill(climbing that is.) But you are not to override the range of your light, so that really has to slow you down...
Do you do it for exercise of just fun.. Or just for transportation...

I ride at night for my brevets, fleches, and training rides.

Riding at night is "funny" - you feel like you're just flying along at 100 mph, but if you get a glimpse of your speed, you'll discover that you're only going about 12 mph. I've been out there thinking I should be at a certain town already, but it seems to take forever to come into view.

Hills are also "funny" - they don't seem as long or steep when you go up - in fact I've been half way up a hill before I suddenly realized I was climbing. It must have something to do with visual perception - I've done the same thing in thick fogs.

Going down, however, can be scary. I live in the flatlands and had NO experience riding downhill at night. No one thought to mention anything about it to me. So there I was a few kms into my Rocky Mountain 1200 (which started at 10 pm) when I had to descend in the dark for the very first time. Of course I immediately overran my lights, panicked a bit, braked to slow down, and eased my way down trying to figure out how fast I could go! Others with brighter lights, and more experience, were flying past me. I sort of got on to it after a while.

Lat time I rode at night I kissed the side of a truck camper:)

ME and the boys would always go riding at night, we would meet somewhere downtown at midnight and go from there, the funny thing is we lived just down the street from eachother but would meet somewhere about 15 km away at midnight. we would ride till the sun comes up, then go home to sleep. Man I miss being unemployed it sure cuts in to my riding time.

I put my head light to good use tonight. I went out on my 12 mile blacktop nature trail route. I saw 4 deer in one place, 8 in another and 3 more in a third. I also spotted what I'm sure was a coyote. Riding a trail at night, with a good headlight, is about as good as it gets.

Anyone else go out late?

I ride in NYC at night almost exclusively.

I love to ride at night. Matter of fact when I ride to work I have no choice, I have to be at work at 5am. :D I have seen many coyote, racoons, opossums, and deer. I was nearly ran over by a dear last fall on the way to work! :eek: One of the best night rides I was riding in a calm between two pastures and a sea of lightning bugs! I turned the lights off and it was like space trippin! ;)

I've done that before! It IS like space trippin'! I don't ride in the night anymore, I used to like it but I had a really bright generator light. I have a 10 watt light now and it doesn't really seem like enough light.

night riding is a pretty regular thing in nyc. when the parks are closed to traffic and free of most foot traffic, central pk and prospect park fill up with the more serious cyclists and we get some some good, fast laps in.

either that, or i'm just riding my fixie to the bar or to friends houses. nothing like brakeless, fixed gear riding home through manhattan after 8 beers....

I love to ride at night. Matter of fact when I ride to work I have no choice, I have to be at work at 5am. :D I have seen many coyote, racoons, opossums, and deer. I was nearly ran over by a dear last fall on the way to work! :eek: One of the best night rides I was riding in a calm between two pastures and a sea of lightning bugs! I turned the lights off and it was like space trippin! ;)

Thats "SPACE TRUCKEN" not "trippin"! It's from a song by Deep Purple...how's that for showing my age? Anyway I also like to ride at night due to the unusual things you can see, but also it gives a different perspective on the same route I rode in the daytime.

I second that! Riding at night is the city gives you a great feeling. Then again riding anytime of the day does... :beer:

my friend organized a weekly friday midnight bike ride around here... we used to go for a ~15-20 mile cruise with around 5-10 people....

i didnt particularly like it. i get to see a lot more stuff during the day, and id much rather be filling my body with toxins on the weekend nights :D

I ride in the morning before dawn. I use a head light and two rear flashers. I ride around a local community college until it gets light. The area looks pretty settled but early in the morning I routinely see: oppossums, armadillos, grey foxes, raccoons, barred owls and great horned owls.

The foxes are the most interesting. They are graceful, elegant creatures. They know about roads and look before entering (unlike the human pedestrians I see) and they cross rapidly. I have found that if I say something to the foxes as I approach they will often turn and look and sit and watch as I pass.

I frequently go riding at night. I'd be out right now except I'm supposed to be resting a knee injury (so I'll go tomorrow night :D ). I like the fact that it's cooler (a big advantage around here most of the time), less traffic, cleaner air etc. What I really like is the image of my headlight illuminating a narrow road through some really dense rainforest. One also gets to see things like glowworms, that just aren't there in the daytime.