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I love in the deep winter, when the temps get down below 45. Layering and going for a long cold night ride. I find when its cold there's alot less people out on the streets.
Usually I do this alone, sometimes my roomate comes with me, but that usually slowed me down.
I've found it actually a little bit thrilling when finding my way home after getting dropped on a couple of Wolfpack Rides. There's sometimes a challenge to get back where you belong without help.
I've also been driving less to my group ride start points more so that I can get in some extra miles on my own.
However, I notice is that it's not as fun discovering new places alone than when you can share it with others. I guess you can always incorporate those discoveries in your own group rides later.
Back when I went to rides almost every night with the Recyclebike trailer I would go up and down Valley Blvd A LOT. Often at late hours, into the sunrise. I would enjoy the empty roads all by my self. Safe, at my own pace, often not a car in sight.
That feeling you get when it is quiet all around you for long hours, then the people start coming out of the houses and flooding the street with the noise and commotion is unusual and really enjoyable knowing that I don't have that in my daily life.
I often ride around town on certain nights in search of some infamous bike gang that seems to have a drinking problem......I pretend I am The Turnbull AC's looking for The Warriors, but alas I never find this elusive cast of characters.
that's pretty much me everyday.. i ride from Silverlake to Venice for work... and back.. I have to be at Venice by 8am so I leave by 6 in Silverlake... There isn't alot of folks on the road in the morn.. Before I go in the morning
I usually smoke a bowl, and listen to my iPod and pretty much space out and ride till I'm in Venice.. Coming back kinda sucks cause it's rush hour, it's dark outside and I can tell everyone just wants to go home so all the motorists are extra angry..
and yet I stil manage to make it to rides almost every night... I have no idea how i do it..
You just seem to have a problem with any posts of mine that involve the slightest hint of negativity towards anything.
If you're trying to say I'm being negative about shit all the time, then you're right.
But who doesn't complain about something non-bike related on here.
I've already gone to great lengths to quit yapping about trucking and shit getting blown up, but like your buddy TheJen, you're consistently on the prowl, watching for anything bad I have to say about a particular place, thing, or idea I have the slightest resentment for.
If you hate what I have to post, then don't read it.
But Adam...you totally walk into it...you're like a troll's wet dream. Open the door...and by gosh someone is going to walk through it. I'm starting to think you like it...just a little ; )
TheJen responding to a comment by bentstrider
12.1.09 - 6:34 pm
I cycle solo at night quite a bit.
Most frequently, its coming home from DNTN Long Beach (like tonight) or riding the last 11 miles home from the Del Amo Blue Line station in north Long Beach.
Many times, I've caught the last train from downtown at 12:40 am and cycled home at 1:30. Its quiet and peaceful. I'd rather live next to a Blue Line station, like User 1, but the lonely 11 miles is really OK. I always sleep well after that.
That said, riding at night with a group is always preferred.
Most of my solo night rides are unplanned. Sometimes they start as a ride to the In-N-Out, but then grow from there. Other times, I'll go see what 818 polo is doing, and then go for a ride afterward.
But some of my best solo rides are post-ride rides, like recently, when I rode back to the valley solo after Ride With No Name. That was very chill. ...Or the other night, after Monday Night Rehab, when I rode back home from Griffith Park... Impromptu solo rides like that give you the chance to try new routes, scout new streets, and experience new neighborhoods.
I love group rides. But sometimes just being alone, you and your bike on an empty street, is a magical experience.
HELL YEAH I LOVE RIDING SOLO!!!! YOU VENT AND RELEASE ALOT OF TENSION LIKE THAT. ITS A TAD BIT RISKY THOUGH IM USUALLY ON A GOOD ONE AND MAKE SURE MY SHANK IS IN MY BACK POCKET...
RIDING SOLO IS ACTIVE. BUT RIDING WITH A PATNA IS EVEN BETTER... SO AN Y ONE IN THE 818 WHO RIDES BETWEEN LAKE VIEW TERRANCE AND SHERMAN OAKS CATCH ME AROUND AND WILL DO WORK LATES...
Before I found Midnight Ridazz, it was all I did. It really helped me to establish a strong sense of my love for actual riding and how awesome it was to explore my city *not* in a car. It also really helped me (at the time) get a little better as a rider, too, all the while allowing me to find & explore awesome new places that I may never have found before. These days, since I live in Hwood, and most rides aren't necessarily based there, I get to have the ride to/from the meetup spot which provides me with cool exploration/extra mileage as well, which I really dig. It's a nice way to chill after being around a bunch of people sometimes, to be able to ride back on your own, go over the evening, the route, etc....
Well, to keep this in key, I was riding by myself and didn't really give much of a second thought about it before finding out about MR.
But, after doing the rides with everyone here and having a blast, it's as if there's really no turning back towards the recreational solo-life.
I put it in an average of 50-60 solo miles a week of riding to work, riding to the gym, and getting various things done, but outside of that nothing else.
I've tried to do some "for the fuck of it" solo rides, but usually got bored and either rode back to the house, or down to the gym to work it up in there and catch some "eye-candy".
Hey, I'm still semi-new here in L.A. and MR forums, but I wanted to say that I also enjoy a good solo ride. It takes the edge off of the day. I have friends in the Valley while I live in KTown, so my usual solo night riding is through Cahuenga Pass. Nothing quite like rocketing down Highland in the middle of the night by yourself.
However, I find that I go on more solo rides during the day.
I like hustling through the traffic and seeing the street life and discovering new places to get food.
I do a nightride from Koreatown to venice blvd to the Ocean and back at least twice a week. No set pace, sometimes I challenge myself by seeing if I can beat the 33 bus to venice and lincoln. 1 win and a shit load of losses. but it's cool because I rarely see road bikes out. Mostly fixed gear and mountain bikers and I can count them on one hand.
Nightrides are the best but do require some good eye vision. Once hit a pothole that I swear to this day was waiting just for me. As if I'd missed it a thousand times and pissed it off. Happy Nightriding!!!
Oooo! I used to go on "Cannot Sleep" rides alone a few nights a week (before Franz). It was super captivating and interesting to watch people retreat to their homes and witness the congested streets become bare of open business's, suit-and-tie folk, and tourists. Slowly the young raucous causers, club-goers, homeless beach hippies and/or crazies would seep in and populate the late night streets. Mere entertainment.
I would actually prefer riding alone. It was a nice time to reflect and meditate.
My husband and I live west of Korea Town and have an office in Beverly Hills. We try to ride our bike to the office when ever we can via side walks of Wilshire Blvd.
Night time we usually ride to DTLA in search of good restaurants for dinner. On the way to DTLA we usually bump into other ridazz. I would be so happy to see them sometimes scream at them "Midnightridazz Ride on!" My husband always get embarrassed, but I can't hepl it.
Night riding just two of us is fun. But riding with hundreds of other MR is out of this word experience. We love Midnihgtridazz.
I used to do a lot of solo riding at night. One of my favorites was from the Santa Fe dam north to the end of the San Gabriel River Path. There are stretches there that are so far from artificial light that I used to be able to ride it on full moon nights without a light. It was a totally stealth riding experience, almost silent, too. Now I'm an old geezer and need lights all the time.
Another fun one I used to do solo was to take the last Metrolink of the night to Claremont or so and ride back to Pasadena. Hardly any traffic, and lots of neat old Route 66 stuff to see along the way.
One of the few good solo rides I did up here was from Victorville to Helendale and back when I was 15.
75 degree January day, no wind, busted up Murray, no insane drivers from "down-the-hill" living up here, pulled about 70 miles along the old Route 66.
No cellphone, a backpack full of snacks, and just the whimper of the cement quarry and bi-hour trains along the nearby tracks.
I guess you could also say it was peaceful during that time due to most everyone up here working at said plants.
Nowadays, the tweakers and the speed-demons love to tear up and down this route with little regard for anyone or anything.
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Ridazz Roulette!
I was just wondering if anyone goes on night rides to explore on their own?
