My preference is for morning rides whenever possible. Nothing to do with safety, but in the winter it does allow for a lot of daylight to sort out a mechanical, walk out or wait for help. For those times I ride at night I do use 2 bike lights and have a fully charged phone. So at least I should be in the dark if one or even two lights fail.
Happily I have not had a mobility kill mechanical nor an injury that required SAR so far in my MTB career.
It's hard to get other people stoked about this, but my favourite type of night ride in winter is a pre-dawn rip. The trails are empty, the darkness gets less and less as I ride and if I can get to a viewpoint there is a nice sunrise on offer as a reward. If something were to happen being stranded in the pitch black for 10hrs+ isn't a risk.
Oct. 3, 2022, 7:39 a.m. - Vik Banerjee
My preference is for morning rides whenever possible. Nothing to do with safety, but in the winter it does allow for a lot of daylight to sort out a mechanical, walk out or wait for help. For those times I ride at night I do use 2 bike lights and have a fully charged phone. So at least I should be in the dark if one or even two lights fail. Happily I have not had a mobility kill mechanical nor an injury that required SAR so far in my MTB career. It's hard to get other people stoked about this, but my favourite type of night ride in winter is a pre-dawn rip. The trails are empty, the darkness gets less and less as I ride and if I can get to a viewpoint there is a nice sunrise on offer as a reward. If something were to happen being stranded in the pitch black for 10hrs+ isn't a risk.