# Scared to ride in the dark.



## Ab24029 (Feb 20, 2006)

Hello.I sholud be ashamed to post it here, but here it comes....
I am SCARED to ride in the DARK. I have no problem lighting up the road with 20 watt system, but It feels so CREEPY...........when I ride in the dark. I live in rural area and the road I ride on goes through woods.( I am scared of dark woods). Every sound that woods make make me shiver... (my 7 years old son understands me). Questions for the brave ones: Do you get used to the dark? Anyone had simillar feelings when riding at night? I think, the more I ride the faster I get used to riding at night without being SCARED. ?????????


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## Bocephus Jones II (Oct 7, 2004)

Ab24029 said:


> Hello.I sholud be ashamed to post it here, but here it comes....
> I am SCARED to ride in the DARK. I have no problem lighting up the road with 20 watt system, but It feels so CREEPY...........when I ride in the dark. I live in rural area and the road I ride on goes through woods.( I am scared of dark woods). Every sound that woods make make me shiver... (my 7 years old son understands me). Questions for the brave ones: Do you get used to the dark? Anyone had simillar feelings when riding at night? I think, the more I ride the faster I get used to riding at night without being SCARED. ?????????


wuss.....


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## Mr. MG (Aug 23, 2005)

*Nyctohylophobia*

Nyctohylophobia - An abnormal, persistent fear of dark woods, or of forests at night


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Sleepy Hollow*



Ab24029 said:


> Hello.I sholud be ashamed to post it here, but here it comes....
> I am SCARED to ride in the DARK. I have no problem lighting up the road with 20 watt system, but It feels so CREEPY...........when I ride in the dark. I live in rural area and the road I ride on goes through woods.( I am scared of dark woods). Every sound that woods make make me shiver... (my 7 years old son understands me). Questions for the brave ones: Do you get used to the dark? Anyone had simillar feelings when riding at night? I think, the more I ride the faster I get used to riding at night without being SCARED. ?????????


What you want to do is rent any version of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and then watch over and over again the part where Ichabod Crane walks through the woods IN THE DARK. That should calm you down


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## jparman (Apr 18, 2006)

What is freaky is when you spot eyes on the edge of the woods and they start chasing you....
I have come across the paths of a bear, a coyote, and a dog....
The most dangerous of which (the only animal that gave chase) was the unleashed dog....
Watch out for the coyotes and bears though,, if you are not paying attention, they will get you.

Happy cycling

Regards,

JP


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## likeguymontag (May 31, 2003)

This doesn't necessarily apply to cycling, but I've found that I'd much rather take a night hike without a flashlight than with. If my path is lit by the moon and stars, and if I've allowed my eyes time to adjust, I can see everything all around me. With a flashlight, I feel isolated - I can only see within a narrow cone, and everything else is deep and dark and black.


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## Bocephus Jones II (Oct 7, 2004)

jparman said:


> What is freaky is when you spot eyes on the edge of the woods and they start chasing you....
> I have come across the paths of a bear, a coyote, and a dog....
> The most dangerous of which (the only animal that gave chase) was the unleashed dog....
> Watch out for the coyotes and bears though,, if you are not paying attention, they will get you.
> ...


not to mention the terrorists that hide in the woods. Booga Booga!


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## MikeBiker (Mar 9, 2003)

Lions and tigers and bears, Oh my.


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## Ab24029 (Feb 20, 2006)

*Riding at night*




jparman said:


> What is freaky is when you spot eyes on the edge of the woods and they start chasing you....
> I have come across the paths of a bear, a coyote, and a dog....
> The most dangerous of which (the only animal that gave chase) was the unleashed dog....
> Watch out for the coyotes and bears though,, if you are not paying attention, they will get you.
> ...


THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN


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## slowrider (Mar 12, 2004)

Dude, I was joking with a co-worker about how a deer in the woods that I could not see, scared the crap out of me this morning. I commute on roads with no lights. There are deer in the woods, an on the side of the road, pretty much my whole commute. I was thinking about upgrading from my 5 watt light. The next few weeks it going to suck in the morning until daylight saving time. I commute on a singlespeed bike that does not make any noise. It seems like I'm getting to close to them before they hear or smell me.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

*Just because you are scared doesn't mean you are wrong.*

If you don't like it, don't do it.


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## Ab24029 (Feb 20, 2006)

MB1 said:


> If you don't like it, don't do it.[/QUOT
> I may change the route and stay on the well known and partially lit road with houses on both sides if I do not get used to it. The "dark" road is a nice climb 7-10% grade for about 6-7 miles, but totally isolated with woods and bears, deer, cayotes,etc...on both sides. I may have to stay on the flat road. Anyone used "HALT" pepper spray? Does it work on bears?


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## The Walrus (Apr 2, 2000)

Yeah, a night hike is fine, _if_ you have that all-important moonlight. I once misjudged the amount of time it was going to take me to get back to the trailhead and found myself stumbling along a fire road on a moonless night, able to navigate only because the road was just slightly less dark than everything else around me. All the while, something was slinking through the brush off to one side, pacing me...I seriously considered climbing up onto one of the electrical transmission line towers and waiting for daylight.


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## Durandal (Aug 31, 2005)

Don't know about HALT, but an old turn of the century Bicycle Gun may be just what you're looking for, it'll even mount on pump pegs if you get the rifle.


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## bignose (Sep 15, 2005)

I can completly sympathize with the OP. 3 weeks ago the wife and i took a mountain bike ride out to the end of a large clif on a wooded trail. it got dark and we had to walk our bikes back thru heavy woods for 2.5 hours in pitch dark. It easily seemed like 6 hours.

I guess teh best advice is to adopt the attitude "if it's gonna eat me, it better finish me" as there is nothing you can do if a bear starts chompin.


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## MikeBiker (Mar 9, 2003)

Try riding one of these bikes and see if you feel safer.


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## Doggity (Mar 10, 2006)

Heh...you're FAR safer in the woods than on the friggin' ROAD, at night! You're far more likely to be hit by a car than eaten by a bear, and the only critters I'm really leery of in the woods are the two legged ones.


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## wipeout (Jun 6, 2005)

Ab24029 said:


> Hello.I sholud be ashamed to post it here, but here it comes....
> I am SCARED to ride in the DARK. I have no problem lighting up the road with 20 watt system, but It feels so CREEPY...........when I ride in the dark. I live in rural area and the road I ride on goes through woods.( I am scared of dark woods). Every sound that woods make make me shiver... (my 7 years old son understands me). Questions for the brave ones: Do you get used to the dark? Anyone had simillar feelings when riding at night? I think, the more I ride the faster I get used to riding at night without being SCARED. ?????????


I know what you mean! A few times a year I'll ride my bike from San Jose down to Cambria - I'll take off at 3AM and go up over a 2500 foot mountain - in the pitch black. It is kind of spooky out there, and is one of the few times I'll put on headphones and listen to the ipod while riding. Seems to help me.


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## PJB (Apr 1, 2006)

Boo!!


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## Ab24029 (Feb 20, 2006)

*like the idea*



MikeBiker said:


> Try riding one of these bikes and see if you feel safer.


I don't think I have enough room on my handlebars to mount the thing and the lights.:thumbsup:


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## MarkS (Feb 3, 2004)

I like riding in the dark.

The last five miles of my commute home are along a country road with few houses and no street lights. I enjoy the solitude of the ride. 

Other than my commute, I usually do not ride in the dark. I don't worry about the lions, tigers and bears. But, I do worry about potholes and bad road surfaces when I ride on unknown roads in the dark. Even with a good light (I have a NightRider Blowtorch), it sometimes is hard to see road problems until it is too late to get around them. If I were you, I would get to know the roads in daylight that you intend to ride on after dark. It definitely gives me confidence when I ride home from the office after dark that I know (or at least I think I know) every sewer grate, old streetcar track and pothole along the way.


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## The Walrus (Apr 2, 2000)

Lights? You should be able to see just by the muzzle flash.


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## Spinfinity (Feb 3, 2004)

*Bats are a potential problem.*

Clicks not audible to people sound like insects to bats. They fly right into you and die biting and scratching. 

Can't see snakes on the road either. They don't move real fast on asphalt and if you run one over it can get sucked up into your chain and really make a bloody mess in your r der and cassette.


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## buck-50 (Sep 20, 2005)

Once you get the idea that there's something else in the woods with you, it can be hard to get that idea out of your head- I used to have that problem when I was a kid. I got over it mostly by spending a lot of time in the woods and learning to be comfortable without extra light. Once you get used to walking around by starlight/moonlight, you start feeling a lot more on equal ground with the critters.

I gotta say, though, a good set of headlights twill also take care of this problem. Of course, where I live, the worst thing I'm gonna run into at night is a mugger.

I did almost whang a deer one night coming around a blind corner- the only thing that saved me was that I heard their hooves on the pavement, and I couldn't figure out what the sound was, so I slowed down. I rounded the curve and there was a heard of deer standing in the middle of the road.


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## Andy M-S (Feb 3, 2004)

*Weird things*

I commute (including some trails) early (6 am) in the fall and winter, and last year I saw the weirdest thing. Looked like two rabbits hopping along side by side. First one would hop, then the next.

Turned out to be a jogger--dressed completely in flat black, head to toe--except for white running shoes.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

I commute in the dark. I leave home and arrive at work in the dark. One good thing about commuting in Hawaii is the lack of snakes in the islands. No large predators, no deer, occassional wild boar, but they run away. I did have that one run-in with the fish, but we both survived. The most common hazard on my commute is the chronics that hang out in the woods on a two mile stretch of the MUT. Nothing like riding along with your world lit up by a headlight when suddenly someone runs up and screams something about how their shoes are trying to kill them. One guy rides his bike around but thinks that it is a horse. Not very many dull moments. The afternoon commute hazards are mongoose. No squirrels in Hawaii, just mongoose. You rarely see a roadkill mongoose, but they commonly run between your front and rear wheels. 

All things considered, I feel safer riding in the dark than in the afternoon. I am very visible with a HID headlight, a 16 LED tail light, and tons of reflective yellow tape. In the daylight, I feel invisible despite the reflective neon yellow stuff.


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## WrongBikeFred (Oct 19, 2005)

slowrider said:


> Dude, I was joking with a co-worker about how a deer in the woods that I could not see, scared the crap out of me this morning. I commute on roads with no lights. There are deer in the woods, an on the side of the road, pretty much my whole commute. I was thinking about upgrading from my 5 watt light. The next few weeks it going to suck in the morning until daylight saving time. I commute on a singlespeed bike that does not make any noise. It seems like I'm getting to close to them before they hear or smell me.


When I go home, sometimes I take the long way on traffic free fire roads through Umbstead Forest. This time of year there are deer everywhere.
Get a 10w for your dome. I've had luck with aiming it in their eyes. Most of the time they freeze, most of the time. I do take it easy though, on blind corners and when I see them lining up to play "Red Rover" with me.


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