There’s something to be said for swooshing along in the darkness with the night all quiet and still, traces of sunset picking out the hills and trees.. just you and your puddle of light zipping along.

However, more often than not it’s wet and choked with commuters blinding you, and you’re tired and want to get home to your wife/kids/playstation/bath/warm sofa/comfy cup of tea or whatever you’d rather be doing.

Anyone else?

commuted home from work at 1am this morning and got back at 3:30AM thanks to this god dam howling wind. It was tough, but i like the eerily quietness of the night for cycling, quite relaxing although i was cursing the wind for 2.5 hrs of it

I used to go out for road rides at 10pm when I was doing a job that went on ’till late. Loved it actually though it was summer.

Sometimes the roads are empty. I remember a night ride somewhere to the north of Reading and Newbury which was fantastic. Open downs style hills, few trees and zero cars. It was great until my lights packed up 30 miles from home!

love riding home late at night, through the suburban estates, no-one else on the road, cutting corners and taking smooth lines. even better fixed.

I remember trying to do interval training in the dark last winter. Blooming nightmare. Gave up in the end and waited for spring.

We did a few night road rides last year when Snake Pass was closed to traffic due to landslides. Bikes could still get through and the whole road was beautifully quiet – there’s almost nothing in the way of houses etc out there, it’s solely a road between Glossop and Bamford so you could ride 3 or 4 abreast. It became quite popular with roadies, you’d often see several big groups on it.

Yeah, more often than not- less people around to see how slow I really am…

Solo night riding around Delamere, is also “fun”… 😯

I don’t get home from work until reasonably late, so sometimes get out on the road about 7pm and don’t get back until gone 9pm. Generally quite busy early on in the ride, but virtually dead on the way back.

It’s nice whizzing along quiet roads with just the whirr of your drivetrain for company.

I often get in, have dinner, wait for it to go down, then end up going out riding at 9pm. I’ve got back at gone midnight before.

Love it, just started my training for next season, got on the road bike last night and even though it was dark and raining, it gives you a smug sense of satisfaction when car drivers look at you and they know your actually enjoying it and your getting the miles in.

Lasy year woke up at 3.00 am one night and could not sleep, ended up doing a 3 Hr + ride before work, one of the best rides I have ever had. Felt like their had been a nuclear holocoust and I was the only survivor.

Will never forget that ride.

Sat at work now in a warm office knowing that I need to get out in this rain for 2hr + tonight, looking forward to it rather than watching Bellenders or some other 5hite on telly.

I love riding late at night and will often pop out for a little ride at 11pm-1am ish. I’m a bit of a night owl and don’t get hassled by the Mrs as she is asleep by then.

The night air is much more crisper and i like the quietness of the roads.

I love how in the evening, if it’s still, you ride through smells. Like you ride through a dip and it’s cold and damp, you can smell the stream and mud. Then you ride through a village and you can smell everyone’s tea cooking as you pass their houses. Doesn’t seem to happen much in the daytime.

Yes. To both your descriptions.

I’ve had night road rides where my only company has been a shadow from the bright moonlight, while surrounded by the silhouettes of the hills around me, done in utter silence

…and there’ve been rides like, well, like the one I’ll be doing in a couple of hours. Where it’s lashing down with rain, the rush hour traffic seems to want to eat you whole, the wind reduces you to the speed of the old man staggering out of the (warm, dry, soooo inviting looking) pub and even a bus shelter full of chavs looks like a wondeful place to hide…

Must be bloody mental!

richmond park is pretty dark and especially so when they closed it to cars for the Deer cull…

I like to but dont get the chance much. I have been wondering about replacing turbo sessions with night rides. The downside is it means heading out in traffic. The upside is that there never seems to be any wind at night.

dave.. yeah.. riding past pubs can be so difficult!

I hate turbo training so much that I often just grab some lights and take my bike down and go, mid session.. whatever weather.

Yeah it’s great here as I live in the country. Not very busy so it’s quiet and I rarely get blinded by drivers. Just received my DX P7 light which seems really good, so it should be even better 🙂

Drunk cycling in the dead of night-perfect.

I’ve been out a couple of times and it’s great. I asked my roadie mate of mine if he or the club goes out in the winter as i said it’s now the night riding season for us mountain bikers

He gave me a strange look and said it’s turbo time now.

I really couldn’t understand why a load of them don’t go for night rides

Night riding with a group would be great. However probably not a group of roadies. They are miserable f*ckers.

I really couldn’t understand why a load of them don’t go for night rides

Roadies don’t get the whole night riding thing, it really is a “them-and-us” thing re roadies vs MTBers.
I’ve done the Dunwich Dynamo a few times, 200km through the night from London out to the Suffolk coast. To be honest the route isn’t all that – if done in the daylight it would be pretty dull but doing it at night really brings it to life, it’s a really good ride. The other good thing is using my normal night riding lights when most people are there with little blinky LEDs and you ride past with 1500 lumens on full beam. 🙂

Not late at night but riding in the dark to and from work 20 miles each has some good and bad points. The bits with traffic is pretty crap then I get up onto the moor and the silence and proper darkness begins. It’s lovely some nights to switch the light off and enjoy the stillness.

Forth and Clyde canal towpath in the dark is great to ride along.

It’s ok until you get a flat or a mechanical you can’t fix at the roadside (in the dark a flat is enough of a challenge)

most of my winter miles are on the road, at night.
due to work/kids/etc, my regular rides are a few hours long, ending around midnight.

You get used to it after a bit. then you kick ass in the summer.

It’s ok until you get a flat or a mechanical you can’t fix at the roadside (in the dark a flat is enough of a challenge)

I like having the option to move my light from bars to helmet, does make fixing mechanicals/punctures a bit easier. Also good for “flashing” cars.

Yup, used to do Sheffield – Manchester road, let at the resevoir – Bamford, then left int the hope valley – Hathersage – Sheffield as a loop, gets 2 big hills in about 15-20miles of road.

Used to do it with a little blinky cateye LED too! Properly mental, as your essentialy riding by autopilot, you cant see potholes or anything, just the fait outline of the kerbstones, cateyes if they’re there, and oncoming cars leave you blind for a good minute!

Usually get out a couple of times a week between 19:30 and 21:30. It’s a good time to go as the commuters are mostly home and I get the roads pretty much to myself.

Wouldn’t say I madly ‘enjoy’ it but it keeps the wheels turning and the lungs working. Can be fun sometimes though if you get the atmos just right.

Night riding with a group would be great. However probably not a group of roadies. They are miserable f*ckers.

Roadies don’t get the whole night riding thing, it really is a “them-and-us” thing re roadies vs MTBers.

Eh?
My club (like many others) has weekly night bunch rides throughout the winter, and I’ve got fond memories of night time touring rides with mates.
As for “not getting” night riding, have you ever met serious Audaxers? They would show most of the so called “night riders” on here up as the lightweights they really are!

I’ve seen common sense!!

3 extended 2 hour lunches each week. Keeps the miles in in daylights and during the day traffics generally quiet anyhow!!

My ride to work starts at about 3:45 am – night-time in some peoples book – does that count? Pitch black this time of year though I can’t wait for the crystal-clear and frosty mornings when it’s still and silent. Best time of the day…

Hmmmm – the more I read about this, the more I’m tempted to strap on the P7 and go for it. If out of town, how good are drivers at dipping as they approach you – or does it not really matter?

I train 3 days a week on the road at night. 2 hour rides starting at about 7.
The country side is awsome at this time and gated roads are fantastic. just make sure your seen. I use 3 rear lights with a combination of on and flashing settings.
I also where a alture night vision gillet in yellow and two lights up front.