Why Night Mountain Biking is a Game-Changer for Extending Your Riding Season

Essential Tips for Choosing the Best Night Riding Lights

With the passing of the Fall Equinox, the daylight will inevitably be getting shorter and shorter. If you're waiting for the weekend to get enough daylight to ride, hopefully, and now skipping your mid-week rides because of the dark, night riding might be worth trying!

Night riding not only extends your season but also provides some benefits that riding in the daylight won't:

✨Better trail scanning: With a helmet-mounted light, you have to physically move and turn your head to look where you want to go.

✨More Focus - A narrower field of vision means you'll focus better on the areas you need to.

✨Relaxed & Mobile - You'll quickly learn how important it is to stay relaxed and mobile on the bike to react more rapidly and easily to the terrain.

✨Head game - climbs or other mental hurdles seem much smaller and less significant because you can't see beyond your light's beam.

✨You'll encounter fewer riders and trail users

✨Fun! It's such a fun way to experience your local trails.

Here are some things to consider when shopping for your night riding light setup:

+ Mounting:

Go for helmet rather than handlebar mounted. This will allow you to point the light where you are looking. Be sure to double-check when buying whether the light comes with a helmet mount, as you may have to purchase it separately.

+ Lumens:

Go for a minimum of 650 lumens, but the more, the better!

I've personally ridden with 650 lumens just fine (running the light on its brightest setting), but I currently have a light with 1300 lumens, and it is night and day in comparison (pun intended ;)

+ Beam Pattern:

Some lights project their output into one specific area, illuminating everything within that space with exceptional detail. In contrast, others have more flood to their output, illuminating more of the trail's surroundings.

I prefer running a helmet light with a flood beam and a handlebar light with a specific light beam.

+ Run Times:

You should be able to run your light on its brightest setting for at least 2 hours.

+ Budget:

You will get what you pay for. Simply, the higher the price tag, the better the quality of light. You could also consider two cheaper options—one on your helmet and one on your handlebar—to fill the gap.

+ Rear lights:

It is not necessary! And it can be pretty distracting to look at when riding behind one.

Are you looking to try night riding? Or are you already an avid night rider?

Be sure to attend our 🎃 Annual Halloween Night Ride 🎃

It'll be a spooktacular evening on bikes! 👻