Night play: Mountain biking

Today's Fit column addresses the virtues of playing at night, especially come winter when daylight is at a premium. In this space for the next couple of days we'll look at specific ways we play after dark. Today: Night mountain biking.

Under the glow of a parking lot light Wednesday night, six of us geared up and prepared to head into the cold, dark forest. On our bikes.

Crazy? Not if you love mountain biking. And you've got a light brighter than the ones used to illuminate a night game at Carter Finley.

Why would anyone go hurtling down an 18-inch-wide dirt path through the forest in the dead of night? Let them tell you in their own words.

Cody Johnson: You will quickly find that with the right equipment, there is little you can't do at night that you can do during the day.
It will help maintain the level of fitness that you have achieved during your summer rides and inject some adrenaline into your favorite trails. You will also be surprised as to how riding your bike in the dark improves your all round riding technique. This is one of the main reason I really enjoy riding at night."

Not that he doesn't recognize the craziness of it.

"Somewhere during the night," he adds, "you will hear a voice say, 'Why am I doing this? I am never doing this again!' Look forward to this voice. Welcome it. Laugh at it. Embrace it. Look forward to hearing it again. Just know that it will come and that you will ride past it and be stronger when it fades into the shadows."

Carter Worthington, who's been mountain biking before the concept was created: There's a lot Carter Worthington loves about riding in the dark: the focus it requires, the fact the trails are less crowded, the different perspective you get riding at night — even on a trail "I’ve ridden literally a hundred times in the light." And, of course, there's the adrenaline rush.

"Once," says Carter, "while doing a night ride behind the old Nantahala Inn on the other side of Bryson City, a friend and I had a very large animal running along side of us crashing through the woods for about 50 yards. To this day, I have no clue what it was. My friend and I have always thought it was a bear. I’ll never know, but I’ll never forget the thrill of it either."

Carter on the "crazy" thing: "When winter is here and the days are short, if you don’t ride in the dark, you don’t ride at all. That would be crazy."

Marcelle Vanore, a road racer-turned-mountain-bike-racer: For Marcelle, this was the first she had ridden with any of us. "To me that is one of the nice things about bike riding in general: it provides a wonderful catalyst to get strangers together. Some of the most interesting people I have met in my life have been encountered on a bike."

On night riding itself: "I can say I have spent more time riding my mountain bike in the dark than I have during daylight hours. That is not because of convienience, but because I just love it. I think that the draw for me is the fun of racing through the woods in the dark. It reminds me of playing in the woods as a child full of laughter, mystery and always adventure."

Marcelle, too, likes how riding at night keeps you focused: "I like how you have to mentally focus when you mountian bike. When you add in the dark the light only lets you focus on racing through the trail. You forget about the tree that is swaying to the right and only see racing down the path in front of you."

Quick note: If you're interested in mountain biking at night and have a light 10 watts or stronger, check out the various night rides held in the Triangle at trianglemtb.com.

Tomorrow: The night hike.