Night Riding

In terms of night riding, I was late to the game. It seemed like a high risk activity that only fools would enjoy. Having biked some pretty technical trails during the day and struggling through some of the toughest sections in broad daylight, I could only imagine abject failure and serious injury at night. I also didn’t have the spare cash to pay for expensive lighting systems for an activity I felt was nonsensical. So I ignored the movement for several decades.

It wasn’t until several winters ago when my work schedule prevented me from riding during daylight hours that I first tried night riding. I fashioned a light rack to my handlebars using a thin PVC pipe, four 100-lumen flashlights and pipe-clamps. It was a bit heavy and definitely bulky, but I wanted to test night riding without having to waste any money on the experiment. I believe I put in 3-4 night rides with this archaic setup and I was pleasantly surprised by the results.

I learned some pretty important things on those early rides. First: I could see a lot better than I expected. This wasn’t the eye-straining sport I imagined. Second: the technical obstacles actually felt easier to ride at night. I still don’t have a solid explanation for this, but I ride as smooth as butter at night. Third: I had a more difficult time perceiving long hill climbs or descents. Everything appeared less steep; so much so that for the first few rides, I had a tendency to wheelie while riding up steep hills because I hadn’t leaned forward enough to adjust for the climb. Fourth: I could ride nearly as fast at night as during the day and not feel fearful that I was putting myself at risk. Fifth: there’re a lot more night riders out there on the trails than what I had expected.

Now all of my close mountain biking buddies at least put in occasional night rides with a few, including myself, riding regularly. I now have a light that’s 700 lumens as well as a helmet light that’s only 100. I use the light mounted on my handlebars as the primary trail light and the one on my helmet to light up my gear indicators and any low branches that may come close to my head. I also plan on purchasing a new more powerful light and transferring the 700-lumen light to my helmet.

Night riding has slowly gained popularity and has become a mainstream movement. This is true, in part, due to technical advancements in lights and a drop in price for high-end equipment. People have been night-riding for at least the past 25 years, probably longer. Riding at night was a necessity for the first ever 24 Hours of Canaan race event held in 1992 and these 24-hour events grew in popularity during the mid to late 90’s. At that time most lights were heavy, awkward and expensive. A mountain biker can now outfit a bike with good lights that are a fraction of the weight and price of those earlier models - while also blasting a much more powerful beam of light. There are now nighttime mountain bike races all over the country.

While a hiker can get away with a light that casts a beam of 100 lumens, mountain bikers needs one at least 5 times more powerful. This is because mountain bikers need to see the terrain ahead while moving at speed. The faster and more technical the trail, the brighter the light needs to be. Rocks and roots are more difficult to see at night with weaker lights. At one time, a 500-lumen light was the cream of the crop, now many low-end lights are routinely 700-800 lumens with high-end lights going up to between 3000-5000 lumens. I also prefer lights with a wide beam. Some bike lights have such a narrow beam that it actually hampers vision.

If you’re interested in giving night riding a shot, check with your local bike shop. They may very well have demo models available and in some cases they sponsor night rides as well. This will give you an opportunity to try it out with a fun group of people and hopefully avoid getting lost in the woods.

Enjoy the videos below and be sure they play in HD for the best quality.

Have fun out there!