Creatures of the Night

Daylight savings has finished, the sun is setting earlier and our long sunny afternoons have been taken back for another year. That means it's time to dust off the headlights, charge up the batteries and start getting out there to do some night time riding once again.

This week I was out and about on the RXC Team hardtail and my Nightlightning Blaast to light my way.

First on the list was the first fully dark Fatties Wednesday night ride for the year. The turn out for this ride was a big surprise as the numbers didn't seem to be effected by the lack of sunlight which was a good sign. It was a little bit of a shock to the system to be riding at night again but the huge amount of light from the Nightlighting LEDs ensured that I was able to see more than enough. Luckily too, because after the wind that Melbourne had to deal with last week there was plenty of sticks, branches and even trees littered across the trails.

Next up was the first night time FGP dirt crit of the year held in the lovely Westgate Park. These races are always good fun in the dark, the lack of sunlight seems to hide all the sneaky little rocks and tree stumps which hide just off the track giving you a false sense of security until you hit one with your pedal! This week the race format was slightly different to usual in that it was a handicap race with riders sent off at different times to do a different number of laps each. This meant that for the whole race there were rides just ahead that needed to be chased down which required an all out effort for the entire race. The last 2 laps were very hectic as the field condensed at the end of the race, the first 35 riders were separated by less than 2 minutes! It was one of the most fun races I've had down there for quite some time but one of the most painful too with the constant chasing that was required. By the end I had caught all but one of the A-grade field, who all started in front of me, and wasn't far off eating up the rest of the field.