[Closed] solo night riding - bad idea?

As long as someone knows where you are i dont think it's any more stupid than solo in the day is it ?

Not that solo riding in the day is stupid either.

Get on with it, you'll be reet.

I do it all the time... just let someone know I'm off for a ride and take a phone.

As someone who's fallen off and broken an ankle while on a solo evening ride, I was a little wary for a while after the accident, but I don't let it stop me now.

Edit: The phone is all very well but lots of places on the Quantocks don't have a phone signal (and hopping to find a phone signal with a broken ankle flopping around is pretty painful) 😳

anything that could happen at night could happen in the day ! - except for your lights dying....

It's too scary for me! All those creaking trees I would need to ride super speed. What a wuss I am.

not at all, its great for fitness - all the animal noises, creaks, etc make you ride faster and not stop 😯

MTFU 😉

Yep, solo night riding is great fun. Scares me silly sometimes, but fun nonetheless!

Same rules as day solo riding, maybe emergency lights too?

Would agree with the letting someone know where you are, and roughly what route you plan to take, and when you plan to be back.

Things do go wrong like punctures and broken chains etc, but so long as someone as a rough idea.

Perhaps the Mods could set up a sticky for people to post "routecard" type information? That way people could reply back when they've returned from their little jaunt.

Do it regularly when I can't get the other boys to MTFU and get out. As you say - leave details with someone and check in when ride complete. I have a mega lightweight bothy bag which I normally take on the hills and I stuff it at the bottom of my bag so if it all goes really wrong at least I can get some shelter while waiting for the cavalry.

Great to go somewhere like GT and be the only car in the car park!

Sometimes take a diversion home if I'm not too pissed after leaving my mate, scares me stupid heading through the woods knowing my light is on its final few minutes!

Doing it again tonight. Leave a route trace with someone, phone/text in at midpoint and end (preferably to a sober riding mate with a car) and pack the requisite kit (first aid, survival blanket, whistle, phone etc)in case it does all go wrong.

Have a good one.

It's great fun - just as long as the monsters lurking in the shadows don't get you!

Yeah as long as you take the kind of precautions you'd normally take when out riding ie: ^^^^ what everyone has said up there.
It's briliant.

I love riding on my own, good thing really with m8's like mine. Headphones on & away I go. I find it really funny some of my m8's wouldn't even consider it.
Anyways as above, give a route (stick to it!) to your partner & give them a timescale & get the f*** out & ride!

last time i was night riding i heard a horse running by the side of me kinda scared me as i thought it was going to run straight at me but i just kept on going and just hoping i wasn't going to get trampled lol

I night ride alone fairly regularly.

Found a fire extinguisher beside the trail recently and just *had* to try the handle.

Queue loud roaring noise and huge cloud of white powder. Which was quite scary.

But a mate subsequently said - what if someone had seem it - large white cloud, roaring noises and strange lights flashing inside...they'd have thought aliens had landed.

Went on my first solo night ride on Monday....wow, I'll be making it a regular thing. Great buzz from hitting the trails on your own, much quieter than being out with the lads so much more to see too.

Having a plan as to where you ride and leaving this with someone and telling them when you will be back is key. Not having a phone signal for all the trail is a very valid point. I send a text message every 30-60 mins advising where I am on the route. So if they do need to come looking they know where I last was.

I do it myself if no one else is playing out, used to give me the spooks but i now i really enjoy it. Spent a time last thursday creeping through the tress trying to spot an owl i'd heard.

Did it last night (in order to meet up with those man enough to ride after the rain, and to get home again afterwards). Lots of dense, dark remote woodland to go through. Don't even think about it anymore.

All the above common sense advice should apply, but it's like riding solo in the day really.

Solo night riding is fine you just need to be sensible, I ride alone once or twice a week; take a phone, warm clothes, first aid kit, back up lights, let someone know where and how long you are planning to be out for, let them know you are back safely.

Enjoy the quite and remember to switch of your lights when you stop, the moon and stars are brill

i don't have anyone to tell where i'm going 🙁

you won't be missed then 😉

Blimey, this place is getting far too Maily Dail these days 😯

I usually just jump on the bike, ride it and enjoy myself. Now I'm going to have to plan my route, make a route card, leave details with someone, stick to the route, and be back by a certain time, carry spare lights, carry a phone, and be extra careful. Probably sound advice but life's too short... 8)

I suggest listening to "Come to Daddy" by Aphex Twin while nightriding solo.

Great fun night riding solo, done a loop of the local hills last night, really clear night and a full moon. Amazing. A bit hairy coming of West Lomond as there was a herd of cows in the field, i'm not keen on riding near them during the day but its bloody scary in the dark, did sh!t myself at times when when the lights caught there eyes!!! Does help to focus the mind though...

Dont be such a jessy, there's nowt dangerous about solo night riding, I mean it's not as tho you'll go out without telling anyone where you are going and ride right on the ragged edge of your ability is it....? 😯

I've done it a few times, and fallen off, thankfully I returned home with nothing worse that a full body mud suit. does make me think twice about it now though

I prefer riding on my own (at night or day) something about the solitude. Anyway on a recent ride I stumbled into a gypsy camp with about 20 blokes stood round some burning trash all pi££ed. Made a sharp exit with a few of them shouting at me.

dont forget to pack:

spare mobile phone
spare mobile phone battery
life raft
flares
spare flares
waterproof matches
night vision

(if going for a quick local spin)

if you're planning on riding past the end of your driveway then i hope to god that you're not stupid enough to ride without a support vehicle?!

(me.... im a real man, i ride naked and covered in bbq sauce, best way to train is to always be outrunning the wolves and bears)

your life will be too short psling if you don't bother with any of that list 😉

I went last night. Loads of fun. The only change I make is to keep my mobile phone in my jacket pocket rather than my backpack so it's easier to get. I also let someone know when I have left, my route and the Wife a time as to when I should be back at the latest. Then she is allowed to worry.

Sportstracker allows live updates to a web page if you're that worried.

Always take a couple of backup lights for fixing stuff or to limp home under when you smash your HID into a tree (bah.)

I've been out a few times solo riding at night. Its really no big deal, spare lights and a phone are pretty sensible.

However, when I tell people I've been riding in the woods alone at night they all thinking I'm some kind of mentalist.

"What if I meet some kind of nutter!" they exclaim.

Well any nutters in the woods would need a light the same as me to see where thay are going, the woods are, after all, pretty dark. If they have a light I'll be able to see them and guess what I'm on a bike so I won't be very easy to catch!

I ride on my own every night.. my dog is with me (but she's not riding). It's great. I love being freaked out by the weird shapes bushes and trees appear in the lights.
Nutters? I think you'll find they are more scared of the dark than you are 🙂

Did it several times a week all last winter. Did not die. No-one knew where I was and usually didn't have a phone. However, this winter have decided to be a bit more sensible and at least take a phone (especially as riding in a new area so I am usually lost).

Wish me luck...

I think the only nutter in our deep, dark primeval woods at night is me......

perhaps i should try it. Dark is not a risk. Less people about is. But i can think of local loopsthat would be fine. On a more general night ride question. Do you wash your bike at the end of the ride? I just can't imagine standing the freezing dark with a hose pipe.

I live on my own and commute along the river bank in the middle of the night.
In Winter, it's not unusual for mine to be the only tracks for several days.
I wonder what would would happen if I didn't turn up for work and didn't answer my phone one day. I wonder if they would send someone out to look for me ?

I used to ride alone at night here in the New Mexico mountains, but gave it up a few years ago (wife convinced me I was crazy doing it). On rocky trails, you really have to pay attention and it does hone your riding skills. It can really be spooky, with all the night noises that my mind would immediately interpret as a mountain lion or mother bear with cubs close by---did see a bear once and almost always had deer jumping across the trail. Ran into packs of coyotes on occasion, but they normally aren't a danger, at least until after you fall, break body parts and can't get up.
In complete honesty, I always carried a Kimber .45-caliber semi-auto in my Camelback when night-riding alone in the mountains, since the locations were almost always out of cell phone reach.

Does the .45 semi-calibre pass the STW "things allowed in Camelbak" regulations, then?

Cleaning bike - no. It's a singlespeed. It never gets cleaned.

I always carried a Kimber .45-caliber semi-auto in my Camelback when night-riding alone in the mountains, since the locations were almost always out of cell phone reach.

mtn lions and bears!!! **** that i wouldn't ride in the daytime 😆

any mtn lions in moab? american friends are planning a trip and very tempted to go.

Done it before and found it quite "elemental", the last time I did it in the forest I ended up pedalling out of it PDQ with my mind convinced there was a red eyed, sabre toothed, taloned beastie/devil clawing at my back wheel. 😳