Last night, messrs Paton and Boquest did go for a little ride in the dark. The location of the expedition was the Olinda State Forest, in the Dandenongs (Melbourne).

This was my first serious night MTB trip, and it certainly won't be my last! Night is a great time for riding...nice and cool, no wind...and it didn't even rain last night! Fingers were just about falling off from cold at the end of the first descent (fingerless gloves), but once we started climbing the temperature was just perfect.

I was illuminated by my DIY 20W @ 35° system, Paul runs an Eric F built 20W @ 12° job. Surprisingly little difference in the spread and apparent brightness of the lights...perhaps mine is a freakishly narrow 35°, and his a freakishly wide 12°. Lights worked fine, except that mine got a bit rattly when the electrical insulation I use to wedge the globe into the towball cover disappeared.

The most notable thing when riding at night is how difficult it is to judge the nature of a surface. Without reflected sunlight, it is hard to tell the difference between wet clay and dry clay. We both made the error on the way up Black Hole Track (a steep "walkers only" narrow firetrail) and tried to ride up patches of wet clay: Paul did a stylish emergency SPuD release, and I fell on my arse.

The route started at Paul's parents place in Kalorama; we went down Olinda Creek Road, then around the gate and into the bush at Georges Road (Undulating). Little dog-leg left at Rifle Range Gully Road, then up Yallambee Way throught the picnic ground and up to the bottom of Black Hole Track. Up the bottom half of black hole track , then down the Black Hole Track Extension ST to Rifle Range Gully Road. Uphill to Bartlett Road, then up Barges Road, past VW Track (tempting, but maybe not such a good idea at night...VW Track is a very steep singletrack baby-head field), and down the steep bit of Barges Rd, back to the road. Long slow dirt road climb back to Kalorama.

Mechanicals were generally non-existant. My brakes were feeling a bit dodgy by the end, and may have made sidewall contact a few times. Paul's back wheel ingested a log half way down the Barges Rd descent, which locked his wheel and may have adjusted his brake somewhat. I kept fogging up my clear lenses, so left them off and lost the nose piece.

Highlight of the evening would have to be the Black Hole Track Extension...a superb piece of downhill singletrack, with a couple of nice little drops and steep boulderfields to trap young players. Forgot to reset the max speed function of my new speedo...which still tells me that we got up to 42 or so down the cruisy dirt road at the start. Would have been interesting to get a speed down Black Hole Extension and Barges Road.

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