I do lots of night riding. It's one of my favorite times to ride. I light myself up like a solstice tree (Dinotte front and rear, one or two Ixon IQ front, Planet Bike Superflash turbo rear, a couple of PBSF rear), wear lots of reflective material (ANSI class 3 jacket or class 2 vest with added reflective bands, reflective ankle straps, reflective bands on bike and helmet) and make sure to not be where the drunks are (the biggest challenge hereabouts).

I tend to avoid bike paths at night. Aside from not wanting to deal with the folks who are there (the drunks bother me and I bother the homeless), we have a nutria problem. This is a possum-sized critter that comes out of the rivers and creeks to feed on greens. Unfortunately, our bike paths are so close to the water that the nutria need to cross the bike path to find food. Their vision is not so good, but when they finally see a bike about to ride between them and the water they race for the water. This puts them right in one's wheel and they are big enough to take a bike down.

I mostly ride on the forest roads out beyond our suburbs. My commute used to be on these roads and I always enjoy seeing some stars without all the light pollution (nothing like CO, but not bad for sea level). Sometimes I ride at night because I am riding a double century and I want to finish before the commuters head for home. Other times I am riding to the beach and want to spend the entire day, or two, there before I ride back.

Of course I ride in town at night too. However, these are mostly just short utilitarian trips of less than ten miles round-trip. I try to avoid high-speed streets or those that have a high concentration of suburbanites (they tend to be the most aggressive and most likely to be drunk drivers here). That means I get to wear out my rims on lots of stop signs as I cut through the neighborhoods.

I do have some recommendations for someone who is new to night riding:
1. Assume you are invisible until you can confirm that you are seen.
2. Bring some chemical hand warmers if the weather could be at all cold. It's hard to have a good time when your hands are in pain. I wear a skull cap that covers the top of my ears as well.
3, Use your ears. Cars can be heard for miles; you should never be surprised by one.
4. A helmet-mounted headlight is very useful when you need to check/fix something on the bike. It is also darned handy for seeing on curves and for alerting motorists coming out from side streets that you are there.
5. Don't overdrive your vision. You should always be able to stop within your field of vision. If you want to go faster, buy a brighter light.