Lumen hell or lumen marvellous!?
Night riding always gives mixed emotions, and often what you hate is also what you love, as Marcus Farley explains:
Hate –
- not knowing where the feck you are on trails you know as well as the back of your hand
- because you can’t clearly see where you’re going, you end up having to take scary lines that you would never take
- you can’t see the scary big drops to your left and right, only the hint of them
- having close shaves with various foliage
- rides at night time are more chatty affairs than serious workouts, so they don’t actually help shift that oversize belly
Love –
- rediscovering trails in a different light, thus keeping the interest up without feeling the need to traipse off to a trail centre to be enlightened
- because you can’t clearly see where you’re going, you realize that you can survive that bad line, actually. So, go on, try it in daylight, too!
- thankfully, not seeing how close you are to those scary drops to your left and right
- surviving close shaves with various foliage, and recounting them to your mates afterwards
- rides at night time are more chatty affairs than serious workouts, with the resultant belly laughs just as important in the darkest months as belly loss
Got your own hates and loves of night riding? Then please feel free to enlighten us with them.