Social Rides
Ride bikes and meet people…
Details
Tuesday Evening Rides
Every Tuesday during the spring & summer – Meet 6.30pm outside Trek Bicycle Bath
Saturday Rides
Fortnightly on Saturday mornings – Meet 10am outside Trek Bicycle Bath
Ride with us…
Our social rides are no-drop rides and we regroup after every technical section and hill. We want riders to share tips and skills so we ride as one and want every rider to have a positive experience with us.
The routes vary every week, and we aim for a 1.5-2 hour ride on Tuesdays, and a 3 hour ride on Saturdays. We will alternate between technical and less technical routes so if you aren’t sure if its for you, please get in touch here.
All riders should wear a helmet and depending on time of year should bring front and rear lights. Please bring your own tools to fix any mechanical problems (especially inner tubes) and there will always be an experienced rider on hand to help you if you do have any issues.
Our Guide to Night Riding
What do I need for night riding?
Now that the seasons are changing we are loosing the light at the end of rides it is now necessary to bring lights. You can still ride in the dark and you can definitely ride off road in the dark. It is really fun to ride off road in the dark (honest) and can make you more confident long term. You only concentrate on whats ahead of you and don’t worry about small things just outside the glow of your lights that might normally bother you. If you are riding races or events that have a component of night riding its also really important to practice this before, you need to know your setup is going to work and if you want to ride a bit faster will enable you to see far enough along the trail.
Night riding can feel scary to start with, the lack of vision all around, the shadows our lights create and that many of us are taught to fear the night mean that many riders never attempt this. With this in mind we are going to be running our rides along a couple of our less technical routes so that people can come along and give it a try. It’s important to remember the basics when riding:
– Stay relaxed.
– Look where you want to go and round those corners.
– Keep your brakes covered.
– If you are unsure of whats ahead slow down and adopt the ready position.
– You can stop before a trail feature and check it out on foot before trying to ride it.
– Always monitor your speed, we share the trails with other users that may not have lights such as dogs and their humans.
– Before riding always charge your lights and phone fully charged, you don’t want to get stuck in the dark with no phone!
As well as those riding points you will need lights, these are our recommendations:
– For this kind of non tehcnical riding an absolute minimum of 500 lumens attached to your handlebars with a burn time of 2h30mins at that intensity. You will also need to accommodate additional journey time to and from the ride start/finish so don’t forget to factor that it. If you want to go further afield or on more technical trails you will need to increase your lumens and burn time.
– A head torch or helmet mounted light. This is in addition to the main light on your bars. It’s not 100% necessary but when riding is good for seeing where you are looking (the light on your bars is fixed after all) and helps you have greater depth perception. This does not need to be super bright, a small head torch still helps a lot. It can also help as a backup if your main light fails.
– A rear light with a low setting. If you are riding in a group then it’s good practice to have your rear light on a low static or pulsing setting. Having a very bright and/or blinking light can ruin the vision of the rider behind you, ruining their night vision and making it harder for them. You can switch between settings when changing from off road to road if you want.
– Reflective clothing is cool! This means riders behind can see you PLUS if you pop out onto a lane side on to other road users then they are more likely to see you than having lights alone as lights are not designed to highlight you from the side. Reflective clothing is not necessary however its very good safety point.
One last big point for us is to consider other riders night vision. This means adjusting your rear lights settings if necessary, don’t shine a helmet light in someone elses face when chatting and giving other riders space on the trails so that you don’t illuminate them from behind. This last point is important as you may cause shadows/blind spots for a rider in front if your lights are brighter than theirs.
Do you night ride already, is there something we have missed? If you want to try night riding with us but don’t have lights/think yours are good enough then please get in contact. We may be able to arrange a loan for you to give it a try.
As usual with any of our rides please bring:
π·Helmet.
π Inner tube and any tools you might need.
π Check the weather and bring layers and a waterproof if the weather needs it.
π« Snacks!