Night riding

[mjr]

24hr garage firecourts

Did you light a cigar on the forecourt? I can picture the scene as you rode away:

 

[srw]

A head torch is also a god send on a night ride. For fixing night time mechanicals etc..

TMN to @Ajax Bay. And I'm about to gift one to ...errrmmm... @User13710 by saying that on a ride with other people (which includes a ride where you pass other people) they're a complete menace if they're used for anything other than fixing mechanicals and moments checking GPSs or route sheets.

 

[mjr]

24 hour McDs are of course transforming some night rides. No longer stopping in the cold at a 24 hr services to get some food.

That's a very generous interpretation of "food" to include the top supplier of throwaway litter to motorists.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Did you light a cigar on the forecourt? I can picture the scene as you rode away:

Ha would not that be great.

I did once buy a disposable BBQ , some burgers, and baps at a 24hr garage. All strapped to the rack on the bike. We then had a night time BBQ at a picnic site down a lane further on.

 

[Fab Foodie]

That's a very generous interpretation of "food" to include the top supplier of throwaway litter to motorists.

That's a problem of motorists, not the purveyor of food/packaging.

 

[Pale Rider]

I've been scared out of my wits by deer bursting out of the bushes and clattering off down the road ahead of me.

A deer ran in front of a mate of mine who was doing a night ride on the C2C path.

What was more remarkable was the bloke in full camouflage with a rifle slung over his shoulder who was running after the deer, presumably as a prelude to shooting it.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

TMN to @Ajax Bay. And I'm about to gift one to ...errrmmm... @User13710 by saying that on a ride with other people (which includes a ride where you pass other people) they're a complete menace if they're used for anything other than fixing mechanicals and moments checking GPSs or route sheets.

No really as we are talking about using them in completely different contexts.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Always keen on gathering valued TMNs so disappointed you (@YukonBoy ) think @srw award unjustified by "competely different context".
My assertion (with context) was: "Add a good headtorch (with just a horizontal band) to your equipment. I can wear mine between helmet and (clear lensed) glasses and switch on as needed. And if I have a mechanical a headtorch makes remediation much easier."

A head torch is also a god send on a night ride. For fixing night time mechanicals etc..

No [sic] really as we are talking about using them in completely different contexts.

Completely different? @User13710 please stand by to adjudicate

 

[lazybloke]

... sounds like you were riding "in close formation"? Giving a lot more space to each other would let you all relax a bit? Just a thought.


Yes ... and definitely has its own distinct pleasures .

- riding along with a ghostly barn owl tracking you, 20 feet off your shoulder?
- bats flitting around?
- animals of the night, the ones that pop their heads out of the grass verge ... stop, stare, and wonder what on earth's approaching?
- night-time flower smells?
- a clear, cloudless, moonless sky?
- moonlight?
- riding in a tiny cocoon of light, quite alone, in a different world entirely?
- etc, etc.


Oooh - and riding up long hills is SOOOO much easier at night. [True. Not tongue in cheek. ]

[edited to add ... I forgot the simple enjoyment of riding without front lights on a clear moonlit night.

AND NOOOOOO! Don't go there! It's just for riding a quiet bridleway or similar. Or in the wee small hours, when you can see the VERY rare motor vehicle approaching from a very long way off. And it has its own, slow magic.]

[editing again, to add

- the calls of the first skirling curlews to waken, just before sunrise;
- deer - startled ... but puzzled, dead still, and watching you from the path-side, in the hour after dawn :-)

Pure poetry in that post. Am also listening to Pink Floyd, have finished a hellish week, poured myself a drink, and the children are playing quietly.
For a few moments I can forget Trump, Brexit, North Korea etc. The world is (briefly) perfect and I'm looking forward to my next night ride. Many thanks!

 

[growingvegetables]

Many thanks!

Enjoy the drink ... and have a well-deserved and bloody good weekend .

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Always keen on gathering valued TMNs so disappointed you (@YukonBoy ) think @srw award unjustified by "competely different context".
My assertion (with context) was: "Add a good headtorch (with just a horizontal band) to your equipment. I can wear mine between helmet and (clear lensed) glasses and switch on as needed. And if I have a mechanical a headtorch makes remediation much easier."


Completely different? @User13710 please stand by to adjudicate

Apologies I was convinced your original reply did not say that but talked about looking at sign posts etc.

 

[steveindenmark]

I think it has all been said. Leave big gaps. Get the route on your GPS. Good lights front and back. A good head torch is a must for when you need it. A viz vest is good at night. An extra couple of layers stached A way on the bike is a good idea.

I ride to work at 5am every morning and I love it. You have to go out in the dark very regularly to be totally comfortable with it.

I have been testing my new Wahoo Bolt at night on unfamiliar roads. A good way to test new gear.

 

[Brandane]

Something of which I was guilty when I started riding with the Fridays.

My brain was still in tune with @Drago 's post above it when I read this.

 

[BalkanExpress]

To my mind Night riding is very different to riding in the dark.

Riding in the dark is the early morning commute, fixed light and a flasher front and back, a “to be seen light” on the helmet and constant vigilance for cars and pedestrians.

Riding at night is as others have said, the calm, the smells the sounds and on a clear night with a full moon windingbthe lumens down to a minimum and enjoying the “otherness” of the world you are in.

 

[growingvegetables]

To my mind Night riding is very different to riding in the dark.

Riding in the dark is the early morning commute, fixed light and a flasher front and back, a “to be seen light” on the helmet and constant vigilance for cars and pedestrians.

Riding at night is as others have said, the calm, the smells the sounds and on a clear night with a full moon windingbthe lumens down to a minimum and enjoying the “otherness” of the world you are in.

Fair enough .

But your "riding in the dark" is but a gateway ... to greater and more wonderful mysteries and pleasures .