stevegor

Recently did a 160km ride overnight and found it to be fantastic fun, I had good lighting and the traffic was quite light so there wasn't any real hassles. Only worry might have been kangaroos but they must have been asleep. As it was a clear well lit night, I could turn off my main light and use my smaller L.E.D. until a car appeared.
IMO it's a very different and enjoyable cycling experience, one I hope to do again......anyone else do this?

Ratfish

So kangaroos are actually really dangerous, eh? Or did you mean crashing into one?

mattm

sure, randonneurs have been known to do it all night, sometimes for nights on end.

i've only ridden through the night twice, it is fun. good lighting (dynohub in my case) really helps in the dark areas. low traffic, cool temps, who could ask for more?

this summer i'll probably do a mtn pass or two at night, that'll be interesting.

hnsq

I live in a city and use my bike to get around, so I end up riding at night all the time. In a way, it is mure more fun than during the day. It is cool to ride through the buildings with almost no one else out on the street.

jonestr

I did this when I lived in Oregon, but New Mexico has lots of drunk drivers and many more bad drivers than Oregon.

badhat

i commute 11 miles before dawn every morning, but thats mostly flat straight roads.

last summer i did a bike'n'hike from fort collins to the summit of longs leak via hwy 34. i wanted to summit by early morning, so i left my house about 9 pm and rode up big thompson canyon by moonlight and got to the trailhead by around 1 am.

It was hugely fun, but also eerie. the windiness of the canyon made me a little nervous about cars going too fast around corners and creaming me, but there was very little traffic and what there was was very friendly and accomodating. i was loaded with hiking gear and i know that canyon really well so i took every opportunity i could to turn off my lights and just ride by moonlight.

WCroadie

I commute to work a couple times a week and leave in total darkness. It is very cool to ride in the dark, my light, NiteRider MiniNewt really puts out a lot of light. It's cool to see the sun rise by bike on my way to work. Of course all my co-workers think I am nuts.

badhat

+1 on watching the sunrise from a bike

stevegor

A big roo can stand up to 6' tall, is solid muscle and when you hit them on your bike the results can be nasty or even lethal. There are heaps of them around here so early morning rides can be interesting because they will hop out onto the road, stop and just stare at your light, then scatter in any direction.
Quite often they will be in a mob of about 8, which is REAL scary for your riding bunch...you never know what they'll do. I have a few stories of close calls, but maybe later.

When a lot of people think of kangaroos, they think they're cute and cuddly or look funny when you see them boxing, truth is, large male roos use the big toe-nail on their hind legs to kick fight and have been known to gouge a man's stomach out!! TRUE

stevegor

It's spiritual.

Randochap

Randonneurs keep going and going, and ....

Good lighting and reflective gear is the key to maintaining speed and being safe.

Take care of these things and night riding is an awesome experience. As mattm said, we do it night after night on the "ultra" distances.

See Lighting for long-distances.

sharkey00

I commute in the dark in the winter and often start or end rides in the dark. The biggest problem for me is hitting smaller objects that I do not identify properly or too late. I often mistake a pine cone for a patch of sand, don't see a seam on the road, or the worst blackened twisted bits of metal from cars.

Machka 

+1

And in Australia too. Look up Audax Australia.
https://www.audax.org.au/public/

z415

I took a short spin at night before. Quite nice. No cars, ride all over an usually busy road. Feels good. Want to do it again, but I like to sleep as well...

Randochap

Sleep isn't all its cracked up to be. Insomnia can be a great training device.

stevegor

I've done this ride many times during daylight hours so I know what the climbs and hard sections are like, but overnight with that sweet cool air and the joyous solitude of the darkness, it seems that because I can't see the difficult sections it's so much easier.

DieselDan

Done it. Love it. Especially on a full moon at spring high tide. The air seems sweeter at that time of the year. No kangaroos around here, but raccoons, possums, armadillos, deer, and alligators can cross your path.

Benjamin11

Interesting. I had my first night ride in a while just a few nights ago. It was around 50 miles and by god it was nice. Never rode all night before though. But I did on the ninja250. The sunrise was JUST gorgrous.

But anyway, on this night ride the other night. I was just riding along the bike path, everything very calm and quiet. I got to my turn-around point and saw an ambulance pass me in the opposite direction. I figured it was porbably an eldery person that had a fall or something of the sort. (It's around 9pm at this point). I'm heading back towards my town and just 3-4 miles past the turn-around point, I see a medley of flashing lights. I quietly ride by and notice two pickup trucks 50 or so feet apart and absolutely totaled. Only minutes after I had passed that spot head to the turn around.


Does that make sense?


Either way, kinda opened my eyes a bit I suppose.

Big Lew

Rode 120 kms.through the fraser canyon many years ago at night with a full moon, no effective front lights....what a thrill! While racing down a long steep hill at 60 kms/hr. I thought I passed several dark shadows in the middle of the road, realized they were deer....sure slowed me down!....imagine hitting a deer without any warning at 40 kms/hr. on a bike! Things you do when you are young!

Jim from Boston

When I'm riding in the early morning darkness, with no traffic, with just my headlight and ambient streetlights, the term "cocooning" comes to mind; just swaddled up in that small beam of light. I listen to an early morning talk show and the host likes to describe the sunrise from his eastward perch several stories high. I usually see it about 10 minutes later, and sometime E-mail him to agree or contradict his opinion, as "Jim from Boston."

stevegor

Most of my non cycling friends, and even my cycling friends think I'm loony for riding as much as I do, let alone this night riding....they must think I'm a total nutcase?

My shift finishes at 10:30pm each night....I have no choice.

MrCjolsen

This winter, I rode to work a few times in total darkness and fog. It was actually really cool and I decided it was safer than waiting until first light because there was far less traffic and nobody was stupid enough to drive with their lights off like they do as soon as dawn hits.

I've also determined that riding to work in Central Valley thule fog is not as dangerous as driving my car in those conditions.

Machka 

Nothing wrong with that ... most people think I'm a total nutcase when they hear about the type of cycling I do.

buzzman

I crossed Death Valley on a moonlit all-night ride and it was an unforgettable experience. Probably the best of my overnight rides. It was just me and a friend. Saw only one car all night on the ride and lots of wild burros.

and, yikes, I just looked up kangaroo attacks and wow, they can definitely be pretty aggressive- we get lots of bears and moose where I spend my summers but I'd have to aggress them before they'd aggress me back except in the rarest of circumstances. But kangaroos seem somewhat more unpredictable- I wouldn't want to tangle with a 'roo.

Machka 

I've had them hop along the road beside me without incident ... but knowing how they can be, I kept an eye on them.