So it's that time of year again where the nights
are drawing in, and riding time becomes a little bit
precious because daylight hours are few and far between.
So how'd you get around that? Night-riding.
So, here are the top 10 things you need to go night-riding.
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First things first, is you're gonna need a decent
set of lights. And what I mean by "set of lights"
is one on your helmet, and one on your bars.
So, for example, the one on my helmet here is 1500 lumens,
it's an Exposure Diablo. And the one on the bars,
is 3600 lumens. It's an Exposure Six Pack.
So, the thing with these is this is really your main beam.
And it's got a little feature on this,
it hops up to 4750 lumens to really sort of
give you some night-sun out on the trail there.
But, you do get some blind spots when you're riding
with the light just on your bars.
So the helmet light can help fill that in.
Some people ask "Why couldn't you just have a more powerful
helmet light?". The reason for that is they're going to be
so big and heavy that you can't really have it on
your helmet. So, you need two decent lights.
And also, if you're riding to the trails,
don't forget to have a decent rear light as well.
And make sure you're wearing something reflective.
Once you've got your lights, make sure you learn them.
Know how long they take to charge,
and know how much burn time you have.
What I mean by the burn time,
is how long you can run them on maximum power.
So, you can base this on your ride length.
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Next up, you wanna have a decent route.
You have to know your route as well.
You wanna know how long it takes to ride it,
how much time you'd have if something goes wrong,
like to fix your bike. Make this based on your burn time
of your lights. And also, most importantly,
when you head out riding for a night-ride,
make sure someone knows where you're going,
and when you expect to be back.
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Next thing you want to have is some spare lights.
So, you want to have an all-else fails light
to get you home.
So, I like to carry this ancient Exposure light,
but it still holds a charge, and granted,
compared to the modern-lights, it's not very bright.
But I know I can get out of the woods
if I have to with this. And also makes a great tool
if I have a mechanical on my bike.
So I don't have to waste my battery light, on the main light
I can just use this just to get the job done,
and get out of there. Secondly, I carry one of these,
this is just a little, double battery-pack basically.
Just to give you a bit more juice on the helmet light.
Which because of the size of them,
they can never carry as much power.
Finally, and most importantly really,
is a rear light. Because there's some point when
you're out night-riding you're gonna have to
get on the road.
You don't want to be out there without one of these.
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And I strongly recommend, if you haven't already done it,
next to the person's most relevant for someone to contact
in event of an emergency. Putting ICE next to their name.
So, In Case of Emergency. So the emergency services
know to look for that. And it's a really valid point.
So, have that into your phone ready.
Have your phone charged, and have it somewhere it's not
going to get smashed to bits if you fall off your bike.
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Next up, obviously you want to be wearing
suitable protection. A helmet goes without saying.
There's no excuse for not wearing a helmet.
Some people like to wear glasses for night-riding,
it kind of makes sense. Personally, in this weather,
I don't like to wear them because it's quite humid.
And they kind of just get in the way of things.
Definitely want to be wearing a pair of gloves,
because you're going to ride through
some undergrowth at some point that you might
not normally know is there.
And of course, some decent knee pads at the least.
Just to help keep things protected,
because things go bump in the night.
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Okay, so next up, you definitely want to be carrying
a spare tube with you. I always recommend carrying
a Presta for the reason it will fit any of your mate's
bikes. Even if they've got holes drilled for
straighter valves. And, at the same time,
you want to be carrying a pump.
That's the best way to really reinflate your tyre.
If you're in a hurry, and you've got minimum burn time
left on your lights, CO2 cartridge is the way
to get your tyre inflated super fast
and get back on the trails.
So having all three with you is the best bet.
But again, if you can, use your pump.
Save these for emergencies.
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Next up, is having a really good quality multi-tool
with all the sort of basics on there that you need
for anything that could happen.
If you bend your brake lever down,
for example, if you hit a tree,
you want to get it straightened out nice and quick,
get back out on that trail.
Of course you need to have it in an easy-to-access place.
I don't recommend carrying them in your pockets,
just for obvious reasons that it can hurt if you ever crash.
So, make use of one of sort of hip-pockets
you get on a modern-riding bag.
So, you don't even need to take the bag off to access this.
It's really easy, it's right in front of you.
You can see what you're doing.
Get the bike tweaked, put it back in, zip up, off you go.
Nice and simple. No faffing around trying to find it
in the bottom of your riding bag.
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Okay, so this is a bit of an odd one,
but it's definitely one you should make sure you do
before you go night-riding, and that's to have a rendezvous.
So, what I mean by that is for the people that are riding
with you, you want to make sure that if you get lost,
or anything happens you'd know where the meeting point is.
And you will wait for each other there before continuing.
And also, it's a really good place for someone else
to be able to meet you if anything happens.
So, make sure you have a decent rendezvous point,
and everyone knows where it is.
(upbeat music)
So finally, the last couple of things you're going to need
for a decent night-ride is of course a bit of darkness,
so you can get the most out of your lights.
And secondly, most importantly, a riding buddy.
You don't really want to be going riding at night
on your own, because if you have a big crash
and knock yourself out, you are in trouble. So,
Hey.
How are ya?
Yeah, good. Ready to hit the trails?
Let's do it.
Sweet.
Hopefully you've enjoyed our sort of
top 10 Night-Riding Tips video here.
If you want to find out some more things on winter-riding,
click down here. If you want to know everything about light
set up, and what type of lights to buy for you,
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