I finally broke my cherry riding a lap of the local mountain after dark, with a shiny new Hope LED headlamp.

Those things are FUCKING SHINY and no mistake – in some ways better than daylight as you never hit the shadows.

Here’s Jon, looking pretty happy with himself with his solar flare hat:

It was a good feeling to open up the winter nights to riding potential, and we weren’t the only folks on the mountain who’d figured this out.

We could see lights of the Grouse ski resort at the end of our 5k or so of climbing, but I doubt many snowclowns were up there – Last year this would’ve been 2m deep in snow at this point but El Nino seems to have put paid to any thoughts of snowy bliss for the Winter Olympics which looms large – it looks pretty brown right now which means: A longer riding season.

I was converted instantly – head mounted lights are a way better option than the bar mounts I used to run, and with the Hopes you’re basically contained in a bubble of daylight. This is one of the trails I know well though, and it’s still disorientating to ride without the usual reference points of giant stumps or big slabs lining the side of the trail and we had a few double takes to find our way down.

I’m considering whether I’d man up for a solo night ride out here. It’s pretty gnarly, even the easier trails can spank you to the ground, not to mention the fact you’re invading the forest’s peaceful time and there’s a whole lot of dark to swallow you up…