It took quite sometime before I finally decided to give it a try i.e. mountain biking at night. At my age, I was unsure whether I should attempt such a ride. Considering the tropical nature of the country with its thick lush vegetation and poor visibility made worse by night and the obstacles and other unexpected traps I can expect to bump into while riding, I didn't think it was wise for me to go mountain biking at night. Rocks, roots, ruts and all sorts of other obstacles worry me while riding even during the day forcing me to be on my toes all the time. Trying to deal with such encumbrances at night could be worse even with the aid of night lights.
The thought of mountain biking at night worried me quite a bit initially. The few times that friends had invited me to go along, I politely said no. Falling off my bike wasn't something foreign to me. I know how it felt and what it could do. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, twice I had suffered injuries for falling off my bike which cost me a cut palm and a fractured humerus that required some suturing and a sling.That does not include a number of other falls I suffered before those two or in between them and after which had also cost me some cuts and bruises though minor, on my shins and knees including my face (on my left cheekbone just below the eye, thanks to my helmet; it could have been worse). Twice during those occasions when I thought I would suffer yet another fracture of some sort on either one or both of my arms while flying in mid-air before finally biting the dust (no pun intended), all caused yet again by my own ignorance and lack of skill plus, perhaps, a bit of poor luck. With all its accompanying difficulties, a night ride could prove more hazardous for me if I were to fall or crash. As I said many times before, I love to mountain bike and wish to do so for as long as I can. Getting myself hurt for some silly thing that I did isn't going to help me achieve that aim. Though a cut palm did not stop me from pedaling my bike the next day and after, a fractured humerus did for more than three months so much so that I had to purchase for myself a stationary bike to enable me to continue pedalling the three months that I could not do so due to the injury.
But the idea of mountain biking at night was just too tempting to me to be given a miss. I thought that if I could do it just as well as they did during the day, there was no reason why I could not do the same at night as they had. Sure it's not going to be as easy as doing it during the day but it's still possible even for people like us (our fellowship, that is) so long as we have the resources necessary to enable us to do so. They told me that the night jamboree they went to a year earlier was so well-organized that no one ended up lost nor hurt along the forty-kilometer trail. All of them completed the ride and had a good time.
And so I did it, finally; mountain biking in a night jamboree that I participated in late last year dubbed the 'Night Owl'. It was a forty-kilometer ride the major portion of which was ridden off road. No, it wasn't really a difficult ride because other than our own lights that we had fixed on our bikes as well as on ourselves, we had those lanterns hung on trees placed at intersections as well as tiny cateye-like reflectors placed on the ground along less visible sections of the trail to guide us along.
Now that I have had the experience of going through it, it is possible for anyone healthy, fit and alert -- even for someone my age -- to mountain bike at night provided they have all the resources necessary to enable them to do so. Sure visibility isn't as good as riding during the day but night ride has been made possible with all the lighting equipment now available to enable us to ride safely and effectively even in an environment like ours. At night, if you can see the trail, you can ride. The more and the clearer you can see it, the better you can ride. So light up well and you can go mountain biking in the dark.
Why not give night mountain biking a try. It's a ride any reasonable mountain biker should be able to manage. Getting your bike and yourself well lit front and rear is highly important. Good lighting is necessary not only for helping you see your way, but also for ensuring your own safety and that of others. If you happen to like it, that gives you an extra dimension that you could add to your cache of mountain biking experiences and exploits. If you don't, you can always stick to your daylight hours.
But I take it that any mountain biker worth his salt would at least give night mountain biking a try.
See you some night sometime.
No comments:
Post a Comment