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Knight Rides By Jason

" Knight Rider - A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Jason Knight - A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law."

You're bombing down an undulating, twisty section of singletrack (at least you think it's singletrack!), cold wind on your face, heart beating fast, wondering what the noises all around you in the woods are, when you round a corner to see the outline of something large blocking your way. First reaction is to brake, second to swerve which you do, only to see the trail continue along your new trajectory instead of where you'd presumed it went…..

What am I talking about and how can riding the trails you know so well be so confusing? Why, night riding of course, where it's you, your bike, narrow muddy trails, a few watts of candle power supplied by the light strapped to your handlebars and a battery dangling precariously from your frame.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; there's no buzz like riding your bike off-road at night. Since the days have become too short to get out after work, a number of us have taken to going out for short loops round the better known trails around Croydon & Forestdale. It started out as a way of keeping a decent level of fitness up through the winter but as soon as the adrenaline rush kicked in for the first time, we were all hooked. Trails you know like the back of your hand are suddenly alien, with the smallest pebbles and roots seeming like the technical sections at Les Gets; it's almost as if you're riding off into the unknown. You experience the joys of your light pointing where you aim your handlebars, which is not always the direction you need to be heading. This is especially good fun when you are riding towards a steep hill. Another fun experience is the first time you realise that the lights don't pick out muddy patches, meaning that when you hit them fast, you nearly go over the bars!!

Within the few short months we have been going out, we have experienced:

1. Five crashes, none too serious (although Fast Mark riding into a badger hole seriously cracked us up).

 2. Being lost four times; in various woods around Croydon, where we had to retrace our steps back up a hillside to relocate the trail.

3. One puncture, mended by bike light,  although unfortunately for Sylvain he forgot to reconnect his brakes afterwards, giving everyone a good laugh as he sailed down a dangerous hill unable to stop.

 4. One occasion where most of the hydraulic fluid leaked out of my front brake, rendering it useless.

5. Two occasions where batteries have gone flat, leading to an off-road follow-my-leader which really heightened the senses.

6. One eclipse of the moon.

7. One trail completely blocked by fallen trees (after the storms), leading to me going up three days later with my Swiss Army Knife and sawing through one of them with it to re-open the trail. In case you're interested, it took about 45 minutes and my arm nearly fell off with the pain!

We have also experienced a great deal of night life, including badgers, foxes, a hedgehog, owls and a scary nutter who started shouting at us from the shadows!

If you haven't got out yet, do yourself a favour and join us. All you need is a bike (obviously), a helmet, a spare inner tube and most importantly, a decent set of lights. These range in price from £30 for a set of SMART lights to £300 for Cateye Stadium's, which have 82 watts of retina-burning power; brighter than a car's headlights on full beam!

We go out on Tuesday nights, meeting at Eight o'clock at East Croydon station, and the rides last up to two hours. I can even offer the use of a hose pipe to wash the crap off afterwards, if required.

As you'll probably have guessed, I'm a real fan of night riding and will miss the short days when they've gone and light returns to our evenings. Maybe I'll just have to start going out at 10pm to keep the spirit alive (either that or set out at normal time and do HUGE rides, getting back at midnight!!).

Jason