Video: Night vs. Day Riding - Can Christina Ride Just As Fast?

 Some of my fastest ride times on my favorite trails have been at night because hardly anyone is on the trail and it's easier to focus on where you need to go because it's dark. You just have to avoid the night birds that sit in the middle of the trail.

 Will there be a PB Academy episode with a night ride so that Cody doesn't need a pillow?

 Christina's slowest night rides would still easily crush me on my best day.

 Night riding rocks! Seize the night!!

 The PNW woods are SO dark at this time of year. If you're under the trees with full cloud cover you practically need a light in the daytime.

 Usually night rides mean I am able to engage in some legal extra curricular mind enhancements so my times are always faster.

 I found this video...illuminating. Thanks

 Here in Alberta we are soon going to be night riding with the snow falling, and trees and trails covered with snow! With the lights shining on the bars it makes trails quite amazing!!!

 Getting fast at night makes me faster in the day. Riding at night is pure. There are no outside distractions, pure focus on only what is on the immediate trail to react to. There is no scenery at night. The night time, is the right time!

 Night riding for XC can definitely be faster...primarily b/c less trail traffic and the lights make the rider almost hyper-focused on the task at-hand (combination of tunnel vision, fun, and less distractions b/c all you see is what is front of you). Our Tuesday night group rides are entirely in the dark this time of year yet our pace has not dropped and I'm still hitting PR's.

 It baffles me that there are places in the world where night riding is common practice. Where I live (Austria) they are generally frowned upon because they disturb the wildlife. Personally I haven't done it yet and don't intend to for that reason. One must know that in this country the relationship between mountainbikers and all others (landowners, hunters, hikers, forest managers, environmentalists etc.) is tense to say the least.
I guess the amount of scarcely populated nature does it's part in avoiding that conflict.

 I’ve ridden and ran trail at night for years and I’m baffled by all the comments suggesting it’s just as fast or faster to ride a trail at night.

I’m not sure if you all are just trying to be agreeable, or maybe it’s the koolaid, but riding at night is not faster, for all the obvious reasons.

 Was on a night ride once trying to beat a thunderstorm that was moving in from a distance. With my lights slicing through the pitch black of night and the occasional flash of lightning, mid climb I glanced off to the side of the trail and found myself looked right into the eyes of a creepy dude trying to hide behind a tree not more then 5 ft away from me. I said hello and silently grabbed a few more gears with a sudden urge to KOM that climb. #keepingnightridingweird

 with 430pm darkness for the next 7 weeks, night rides are the only way for post work rides.

 Here in England I do more MTBing in the dark than the light - my most regular ride is a weekly evening group ride between 7pm and 9pm, and it’s about 20 minutes there and back solo via the trails, so for six months the whole ride is in the dark and there’s barely one month where I can go without lights. I’ve never noticed being slower without sunlight, it’s the ground conditions that make the difference (yes, we ride in the rain and mud etc).

The best night rides are the snowy ones - it looks amazing and riding in (just the right amount of) snow is hilarious fun.

 I don’t know how this goes down across the pond. But here in Europe you definitely mess up the relationship with hunters, forest owners and the rest of the bunch when riding with bright headlights in the woods.

 Just make sure you check your trail to make sure you can legally ride them at night. My favorite local trails are off-limits after dark. Local law enforcement like to camp out at popular trail heads and write people up as they exit the trail. I love riding in the dark. Getting a $80 ticket, not so much.

 Was definitely expecting a bigger difference between the two laps @christinachappetta but I guess that shows the real benefit of proper light output.
Not done any night riding for a couple of year, so need to get my butt in gear and get out there. I do remember that even the most familiar trails take on a completely different personality in the dark though. Definitely makes you concentrate a lot harder.

 I’ve had a long career of night riding trails starting the early 80s. Sidewall generators with a Union headlamp. Maybe 10 lumens. Smart riders put the generator on the fork because if you skidded with a rear mounted generator the light went out. When we stopped we’d lift the front end and paint the wheel to get some light, aim and wobble off. Every year lights got better. Batteries, halogen, HID weak led and modern powerful led lights are amazing. With the modern lights I had my speeds were pretty similar to day time. Sometimes better at night because there were no distractions in the peripheral view. Sometimes noises would scare me too so I went faster. I rode alone a lot. Since I retired though I quit night riding. .

 Love a night ride, with a young kid pretty much half or more of my rides throughout the whole year are at night- during the summer it’s the best way to beat the heat! Freakiest experiences night riding: scaring a herd of elk that took off uphill and sounded like a freight train, snapping saplings like they weren’t there.

 I can envisage myself being faster purely because I’d be scared and eager to get home. I’m definitely curious about night riding though, one day.

 The best thing about night riding is you don't need 500$ worth of bike lights... my 50$ dual set up from amazon is still going strong

 I ride solo at night and in similar conditions the times are the same. What I found is the easy trails like Expresso are scarier at night than harder trails like Ladies and Grannies. Speeds on Expresso make the thought of a crash much scarier than on the slower jank of Grannies.

 Perhaps Christina could put some light on judging for the last two episodes of pinkbike academy

 Good lights and somebody to go ahead and knock down all the spider webs ,nothin worse than a damn spider on your face or crawling up your neck at 20 mph they seem to build their webs just after dark at a certain time of the year around here

 Why do you want to go fast at night? You'll miss all the little glowing eyes peering at you from the dark - raccoons, deer, mice and spiders (my favorite). For me, night riding is more about the experience, not the PRs.

I also dial it back because getting injured and needing evac at night would suck for everyone. The only reason I can night ride at all is that the part of the trail system on county land doesn't enforce the sunset closure. They don't have staff to enforce it, but I'm sure they could find a way if a need arose. The bike traffic keeps kids from sneaking it at night to party, so it's symbiotic. It needs to stay low-profile though, which is the opposite of ambulances and helicopters.

 I know this may be controversial but I can’t recommend L&M. Don’t get me wrong, they make a great light. But when they say they can repair your light for $90 and then it all it ends up being a defunct battery (ie light head works with another battery) that can’t be repaired and you’re charged $90 for the “service” on top of the (expected) $150 for the new battery, I can’t recommend them. No flexibility to remove the $90 “repair” charge even though no repair was able to be rendered. Would’ve been better off never contacting them in the first place, and that shouldn’t ever be the case about a company’s customer service.

 I used to night ride through the trails in our urban parks ie Stanley Park and Pacific Spirit Park. Great fun but spooky as hell.
Now I just wouldn’t ride at all because of the fear of the homeless people who camp year round in these parks. Not a slag on homeless people , I would freak out encountering anyone in the dark on the trail.

 I have been an avid night rider for the past 5 years. In my experience you can get away with less lumens in the woods because the trail is very defined. And you can't see very far even in the daylight because of the trees and brush. Really, you can only see as far as the next corner. Where I really feel the need for more light is on high speed open areas. Kind of grassy and the trail isn't well defined. The light just get sucked up by the ground. Currently running two 1000 lumen lights on the helmet. One spot and one flood.

 hey everyone - pretty much disagree with most of the recommendations made in the video.
Here's the two things I've found to be true after a decade plus of night riding..

1) Too many Lumens (power) is a bad thing!
2) You should have the Big light on your head and Smaller light on bars
3) You need to try and get both lights as close to the same colour/tone of light (otherwise it will drive your eyes crazy)

Why!
1) Too powerful a light crates a massive amount of glare and bleaches out the detail of the trail ahead.
The most of the powerful lights tend to be cold and harsh - a warmer light is much better picking up detail.

2) You need the power to be where you look (so helmet) way out ahead - and the light on the bars is your security, creating a constant pool of light ahead of your front wheel.

I've bought all kinds of light and my favourites are almost half the power of the most powerful I've tried.

You can have the best riding experience with as little as 400 limens on the bar and 1200 on the helmet.

I tend to be as fast if not faster at night - and go through and over stuff I'd think twice about in the daylight!

Night riding is brilliant - give it a go

 People that have easily accessible, legal after dark trails are very fortunate this time of year. Time to lace up my running shoes until the ice shows up and then we squeeze in frozen ground rides until mud season.

 Running a helmet light is far superior and sometimes the only option needed. The bar mounted lights can be finicky and sometimes the multiple beams play tricks on your eyes. That being said, remember to pack a back-up light! I've been using the same light for years and always wonder if tonight will be the night that it craps out.

 Odd choice only running 600 lumens on the helmet with 2500 on the bars. I’d go with 1200+ and keep the brightness of the two lights somewhat similar.

 NiteRider here and I usually will ride the climbing sections on low and then descend in High. This makes it safe and conserves power for those longer backcountry rides. Definitely recommend a small light on the head.

 Best part of night rides in our area is being able to run directional trails in reverse,

 Many of my PR’s are from night rides, less distractions, more focused, and a new challenge bring out the best!

 christina have you noticed any changes with the battery life or time to charge? any dimness over the length of you using those lights??

 Used to ride at night back in Aus, but kangaroos on the trails everywhere. Now I’m in BC and I’m too scared of bears and cougars to give it a go

 In general when I need to ride by night, that is the time of the year the trails are covered with leaves, so you do not see anything anyway, every hit is a surprise!

 Cool paid promotion!

 But… but… but…. Bears! At night! (I once clattered a deer on a night ride and that was bad enough!)

 so I'm curious, how much does it cost to have a personalized advertisement made like this one? Have rates gone up since Outside?

 Usually good, until I ended up in the ER night riding last night.

 Best helmet-mounted light with minimum of 1000 lumens? In the market. Already have 2000 lumen on the bars.

 Doesn’t matter. Both are fun. Night riding is more fun as long as you have good lights. As long as I can ride I’m happy

 What was the total lumens of the head and bar setup? I have a 1000 on the bars, but not enough to go fast.

 Quite sure this is a prologue to "PBA....After Dark". Hide yer kids folks....it's gonna be a little crazy in the tent.

 Majority of trails near me are closed 1 hour after sunset

 I PR'D at night once. i thin kthe key is riding alone vs tailing

 …more Chappetta time lol

 Night rides are the best. I feel so much faster at night. No distractions

 That sucks…move down here to SoCal!

 Im even faster, everything is flat with flashlight

 Is this just advertisement?

 Next time on PB: Can Christina ride faster with only one eye open? Sponsored by the Cyclope eyewear