Prospector Trail at night (Porcupine sighting)

[Kent K25]

I got a couple lights off of ebay, one to put on my handlebars and one for my helmet so I could try night rides during the summer when it's so hot to ride during the day.

Tried them out on the Prospector trail since I'm familiar with it and it's far from technical. Anyway, I put together a short video of it, but it is a lot more fun to ride at night than to watch a night ride.

I ran across a porcupine, somewhat hard to see in the vid, that scared the crap out of me since my first thought was "SKUNK!"
By the time I settled down and realized it wasn't dark enough for a skunk I realized it also wasn't a raccoon and had to be a porcupine...but it was long gone by then so I couldn't track it down to confirm...and as sketched out as I was I might not have anyway!

[Deathcricket]

Nice vid dude! Dave has been trying to convince me for years now to go night riding with lights, but I haven't got the balls to do it.

[Kent K25]

I wouldn't want to do a technical trail that I wasn't SUPER familiar with...this trail only has one semi technical spot and it's nothing during the day...it was sketchy at night.

We should all hit this one up sometime. It's a whole different world riding at night...plus with others there I'll think less about what else could be out there with me :)

[Sombeech]

Cool, I've been wanting to get into night riding for a while. We are always racing the sunset and limiting the distance.

[Kent K25]

These are the lights I bought...2 of the exact same one...except the guy just upped his prices from $40 to $59.99...interesting.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190656584399...84.m1497.l2649

There are hundreds of identical lights on ebay though since they're all knock offs. I just chose that seller since it was shipped from the US. Just search "Cree XML t6 bike" if you're interested.

[blueeyes]

In the summer down here that is about the only way you can ride! Must get me a light this year.

[chromehead58]

Three weeks and counting...then my plan is to do a moab...then st george trip....Might be hot enough then to do a night ride...What kind of lights did you get?

[blueeyes]

Haven't bought one yet. But I need to for this summer. What do you all recommend?

[Kent K25]

I forgot the link in my post 3 above yours...but just added it in there now.

[blueeyes]

So @Kent K25 did you decide to do a light on the bike and one on your helmet?

[Kent K25]

Yeah, identical lights...one on the bars, and one on my helmet.

[mattandersao]

If a porcuskunk freaked you out just wait till you see your first cougar (and I dont mean an older lady trying to...)

[blueeyes]

You know Kent you could of just told me to RE READ the first post. I watched the video put did not really pay attention to what you wrote.

[Kent K25]

We've all done it before... :)

[accadacca]

Cool video! Looks like fun!

[nelsonccc]

We night ride all the time down here. I love it. There's something about the eeriness of it. Trails that you know really well suddenly become brand new in the dark. I use a cheap ebay light on the bars (that I've been running for months now with no issues) and a niterider on the helmet. Typically I'll use the bar light while climbing and then switch the helmet one on as well for the descents. I've found that the lighter and smaller the better when it comes to the helmet light. I got my niterider from Pricepoint and my Magicshine knock off from Deal extreme. With both on it's like the sun is shining!

[REDFOX]

We night ride all the time down here. I love it. There's something about the eeriness of it. Trails that you know really well suddenly become brand new in the dark. I use a cheap ebay light on the bars (that I've been running for months now with no issues) and a niterider on the helmet. Typically I'll use the bar light while climbing and then switch the helmet one on as well for the descents. I've found that the lighter and smaller the better when it comes to the helmet light. I got my niterider from Pricepoint and my Magicshine knock off from Deal extreme. With both on it's like the sun is shining!

Used to find rattle snakes out at night in the Las Vegas area while hunting varmints at night. I would suspect that they would be out at night hunting the small rodents. You could probably see lots of creatures after the heat of the sun has set.

[Kent K25]

If you guys keep talking about sketchy creatures I can run into at night I may never go again!

[blueeyes]

Never thought about what goes bump in the night on a mountain bike trail..... now I am having second thoughts.

[nelsonccc]

Used to find rattle snakes out at night in the Las Vegas area while hunting varmints at night. I would suspect that they would be out at night hunting the small rodents. You could probably see lots of creatures after the heat of the sun has set.

Yep, see them all the time. Especially since I'm usually starting my night ride around dusk, with 30 minutes or so, before dark. The other week I stopped and looked down and I was literally standing among 5-10 tiny little baby rattlers with these big 'ole heads and tiny bodies. About 2-3 inches long. I leapt like 3 feet into the air. The good thing is even though I see them all the time I've never had any issues. I've told all my buddies that I will not suck the venom out of their bites.