It's a conspiracy Night rider and Light and Motion are owned by Vampires and werewolves and only exist to make you an easier meal.#-o
This is very true. We did a night ride last night. A typical out and back but we purposely took a little longer to rest up to let darkness fall. This was only my second night ride but great googley-moogley, it was freakin' dark and my whole field of vision was much more limited. It was like I was riding thru a rocky tunnel so I had to make even quicker decisions to go over or around things. In one area I normally breeze thru my rear tire slid out and I landed on my hip and left elbow (thank goodness for my Skeletools elbow pads). I was much more keenly alert along the narrower paths with drop offs. As we got closer to the parking lot, even on the wider fireroad you had to be careful because critters just scurry across. In our case it was these birds that were laying right on the singletrack trail. They would fly about 2-3 feet off the ground and straight ahead about 15 feet and land and then I'd be right on top of them again. I'm guessing they were Quail but I dunno. It's quite an experience and one I would recommend doing if you ever get a chance. Make sure you have a backup light, too.