Question: What is it Like to Mountain Bike at Night, and What Equipment is Required?

There are lots of reasons to ride at night.

In some places, especially in the desert, it can be too hot to ride during the day, so night riding quickly becomes a good option.

Shorter days in the winter can also lead people to start riding at night.

It’s a good thing riding at night can be super fun.

Answer: I’ve had some awesome rides at night.

I encourage you to give it a try.

You will quickly find that with the right equipment, there is little you can't do at night that you can do during the day

Buy, rent, or borrow a good set of lights and you will find you can ride at night nearly anything you’ve ridden during the day.

If you want to ride trails at night, I recommend good high end light systems such an HID system. Light technology has improved significantly over the years and there are new longer lasting LED systems that are now competing well with the more common HID systems.

Unfortunately, good light systems for serious trail riding are not cheap. If you’re not sure if you’ll spend much time on the bike at night, find a way to try it out first before you drop $250 on a light you'll rarely use.

On the other hand, if you are thinking about getting into 24 hour racing, spending the big bucks on a good light system is well worth it.

I do not reccomend trail riding with cheap, standard battery operated lights. These lights work fine out on the streets, but will not give you the power you need to ride a trail at fun speeds.