Any night riding tips??

[Tom S.]

Hey BooBoo where's Yogi?

[nigel]

--Well first tip I can say for sure is to try and ride with a partner! Safety is the best at night, no matter where you are or what your ability is, and with 2 people its just always more fun anyhow.
--I use both a bar and helmet light, but if you only have a bar light, try to "look" ahead of your wheel at all times, you need to try and anticipate your next move before you get there. Even if your going slower at night it often seems faster. If you do get ahold of a helmet light, I would "aim" the bar light about 3 feet ahead of your front wheel to light up the trail ahead, then aim the helmet light so you can see as you look ahead and turn your head. Then you'll have no problems at all seeing.
--As for lights being brighter helmet or bar. Well, if one is substantially brighter than the other it will drown out the weaker one, so I would try and get both to be the same of possible. I would shoot for roughly 15w at the lowest.
--Knowing the trail helps a lot as well, Lebanon is for sure one of the best at night, with all its tight turns.
---Know your light system too, keep track of battery run times so you know how much light ya got left. I got lost in the 9 mile forest last year when my 4 hours dropped on me :( Thats what i got for having a kick butt ride but not paying attention.

And hey, get ahold of me to go riding!!! I LOVE NIGHT RIDING!!!

651-690-1862 at work anytime!!

Hope i could help :)

Douglas

[gopherhockey]

Originally posted by Tom S.
Does the helmet light need to be as bright as the bar mount or should they be about the same? And NO I can't afford 2 Storm HIDs like Yogi has.:crazy:

Looks like I need to change my forum handle... geesh, not sure where Yogi came from exactly, but it seems to have stuck ;)

Anyway, definitely 2 lights of the same works well. I tried a bright one on the helmet and a lesser one on the bars, but it gave me a huge headache and played tricks with my eyes... (perhaps because one was a white light and one was more yellow).

I wish Lebanon were open later into the evening... there are times when I'd love to go for a 10pm or later night ride... <sigh> Maybe someday - one step at a time... ;)

[jjrsds]

TT if you had called me I could have ridden with you and put a little more light on the subject. I second the riding with a partner at night you never know when a wolverine may be on the prowl for a juicy mountain biker. I am using a very old (10 years but upgraded batteries) vista lite 10 watt bar mount, and a Jet Lite 20 watt helment and they compliment each other nicely. See ya