I just my second ride using lights and I found that I am riding certain descents much quicker than I do in daylight. I feel like I’m in this focused tunnel of light and just plow on without getting distracted by anything.

You cant see all the shit that normally scares you!

Did you time the descents? I usually feel ALOT faster in the dark, it’s the same when I’m rowing after nightfall. I suspect it’s something to do with the poor light conditions increasing your perception of speed.

‘s the werewolves, innit

Same with driving at night at speed, always feels faster but ain’t in my experience.

Yep, one of my fastest times (on Strava) on Glentress’s final red descent was a night run in the snow.

Because you ride faster when there are axe murderers chasing you.

Its this dude that makes you the fastest..

have u actually timed them ?

Don’t know about faster but I’ve certainly ridden down stuff that I wouldn’t in the day, if I’d seen it!

The edge protection “lump” to the side of Stanage edge for instance, when the actual track was covered in snow and ice 😯

Next time I rode there in daylight I realised where Id ridden and that gave me a bit of a shock!

I used to lap faster on night laps at 24hr races (and I’m not fast enough for that to be down to traffic…). I found using only a helmet mounted light makes you lift your vision and look down the trail, rather than focus on stuff right in front of you, and being able to see less means you have to relax and roll over stuff.

All in all its good for improving basic technique and getting rid of fundamental bad habits.

That, and the axe murderers.

It’s quite common with motorbike endurance racers, they lap faster and more consistently at night.
The main reason was thought to be that they were not distracted by things that were going on around them and they were more focused on their riding.

I’ve ridden down plenty of stuff at night that I’ve got back to in daylight, taken one look at, and immediately concluded “theres no bloody chance I’m riding down that!!”

Certain local routes are generally quicker at night which I’ve put down to a combination of things:

1. You can’t really see the stuff you’d normally avoid/mince around.
2. The fear of being caught by the beasties chasing you.
3. The (expected) lack of people/dogs/horses on the trails.
4. Fewer distractions (other than 2 above).
5. The lure of beer.

The ‘faster in the dark’ thing works up to a point for the reasons outlined above but beyond that one simply needs more light, hence the demand for thermonuclear lighting systems

Not sure about faster, but definitely I’ll ride stuff that I might be more cautious about in the day. Following a group, someone shouts “drop”, I say “what drop, oh right” as I’m already over it. In the day and I’m hesitating about the drop I see in the distance and generally being a pussy about it.

Also climbing hills, not sure faster but certainly it feels easier and over quickly as can’t see how steep it is or how long it goes on for.

We did Cut Gate last Thursday night – the final descent was in the fading light.

Everybody got to the bottom thinking they’d put in a blinder – totally focussed and meditative! We don’t do it enough to compare times really. I got PRs, but I think we often stop at places we didn’t this time.

Really memorable ride.