Night riding : it's addictive!

If anybody asked me few years ago about night riding my answer would have been: "No way, I don't see anything in that!" Well, this opinion has been changed this winter 'cause I am officially hooked on off-road night ride spins. There is no turning back! :)

There is just something great about being up in the mountains at night and have fun on the trails. We normally go to familiar places 'cause we know what to expect. But even the well known trails could surprise us at night! 

Yeah, the front lights are very bright indeed but still: riding off-road in pitch black forest and hit some sweet downhill sectors over rocks and roots just kicks in the adrenaline for sure! 

The sounds of the forest at night is definitely something that I never really listen to during the day. At the darkest bit we always stop for few minutes and switch the lights off all together. Now, that is the freaky bit! Cool! :)

We took some good photos during last night's spin, here they are:

The view is amazing

Dark enough, let's go!

On my favourite trail up on Threerock

Deep in the dark forest

Little bit of donwhill

A funky shot: the rear light on the back of my bike. Sometimes random photos are the best! :)

Yesterday's night ride spin was possibly one of the best so far. The weather was cold enough but still good and bright. We ended up stoping a couple of times to take some nice photos but we still finished the spin with 2 hours clear riding time. But hey, all these night ride spins are purely for fun I think and we have to say that we've had great time on the bike.

I'd like to say thank you to my friend Csaba for all the nice pictures and for taking all the equipment last night. Good stuff man! :)

Night ride is the name of the game

We were planning this night ride spin for ages but there was always a problem to pull the things together. But tonight finally we got out to have some fun filled off-road spin at night. I rushed home from work after we closed the shop at 7 pm and got the gear ready in no time. I was ready to rock at 7:30 pm when my friend Csaba got to my place. We fitted the lights quickly and we were on our way up to Threerock.

Dublin at night, just simply beautiful

After we got up to the top the plan was the next: hit the Metro 1 & Metro 2 trails and fit some sweet dark forest sectors between the two. It was a very mild evening, but the wind was pretty challenging I have to say. Once we got up to the opened sector of the top trail it was a serious task to not get blown off the trails. It was great though! :)

These are some of the best photos:

'Cause it wasn't cold and the whole thing was absolutely fantastic this was possibly the best night ride that I've done for a long time. Some of the real dark trails were epic especially 'cause the mud was brutal at some points. Difficult tecthical trails, full of roots, full of mud at night...what more can I ask for? :)

At one point we stopped and switched off all our lights to see how dark the forest really is. Needless to say that it was super dark! Literally we seen nothing but pitch black forest in every direction apart from the tiny little brightness that came through from above. It was mental and also quiet spooky so we switched the reflectors back on and kept going.

It was pretty late when I got back home, it was nearly 10:30 pm. The spin was great, we had good time on the bike and some of the trails are very memorable at night time. The clear riding time was 2 hours which isn't too bad for a night spin I guess. Good weather, cool trails and dark evening. For me this is the perect recipe for a decent night ride! :)

Let's go for a night ride

"Let's strap on the bright set of lights and have a adrenalin filled off-road spin up in the mountains!" We've had a brilliant night ride tonight with my friend Csaba. The weather was more than perfect to go up to the mountains even the sun was down already. First we have climbed the Kilmashogue Lane climb and we have crossed from the Kilmashogue car park to Ticknock.

The fire road climb was all right, nice and steady but the fun began on the top of the Bone Shaker. We hit the new trail that leads back to the upper car park. It might not be too techical at day light but I'm telling you it is quiet serious at night. All the little drops seems smaller than they truly are and you don't see more then couple of meters ahead of the front wheel! Fun-fun-fun! 

After the exciting downhill bit we got back to the Ticknock car park we have decided to head home because the weather got cold and windy also. We have covered 30km of distance in 2 hours. I haven't ride at night time for a good while now but it was so much fun I'm sure I'll be doing spins at night more often. If you haven't tried it yet, you should give it a go for sure.