# Ghost Protocol: Running from the man



## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

A couple weeks ago I had an unexpected run in with _The Man_ as I was finishing up one of my late night rides. Without getting too specific I was riding an area where law enforcement has been almost nonexistent over the last 5 or so years.... to the point I should say that I had begun to feel very comfortable when riding the area even though I knew that this area probably had restrictions for riding at night even though there were no signs at any of the trail heads stating any such restrictions. Anyway, my stealth Spider sense had pretty much faded due to lack of enforcement. Just when you think you got it made in the shade, boom.

Where I live there is no legal night riding on trails. That is of course unless you get permission from the authorities and plan a club ride in which case club group rides are not my forte.

So anyway, I'm about to exit a trail head and onto a very secluded parking lot. This particular parking lot is known as a local hangout for the local youth. Generally I turn my lights down so as not to spook anyone ( if I can help it ). Right as I'm going around the gate a car turns it's headlights on a short distance from the parking area and bolts very quickly toward me. As I watch I immediately know whats going on. The car swings around and cuts me off. I pull along side and turn my helmet light off....The Man....here we go again.

The conversation was short, polite and to the point. I was riding in a restricted area...ie...no riding after sunset. ( *cough, cough* ) ...immediately I initiated "Man Protocol". In a nut shell, "Man protocol" is basically being friendly, polite, saying a lot of "yes sir" and saying nothing when you are told you are breaking the law. The first rule of "Man protocol" is, "Never argue with the Man". Believe me, this goes a long way in keeping you ticket free.

For the most part I think I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have a feeling the officer was sitting there ( in complete darkness ) waiting for the locals and not me. No doubt I surprised him. Thankfully he was a very nice gentleman and decided not to give me that $150 ticket.

Unfortunately this leaves me no choice but to initiate "GHOST PROTOCOL".
I will not be seen entering or exiting the trail head. I have already begun to scan various satellite images to plan various alternate exit points. Google is your friend. Too bad I can't hack into the NSA network. Having a real time infrared sat-image beamed to my smartphone would be the sweetest thing.  Regardless, I will not give up. I will ride. I will not get caught. They'll have to pry the handlebars from my cold dead hands before I give up trail riding at night....:incazzato:.... Ok so maybe I'm going a little too far. 
, but it did sound good while I was typing it. 

In the mean time as the Saga continues, if you have any good tips for my current mission from God ( code name: Black CAT ) your input would be much appreciated. The enemy must be neutralized. *THE RIDE MUST GO ON!* ( now where have I heard that before? )


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## NYrr496 (Sep 10, 2008)

My winter biking clothes have all sorts of reflective crap on them... I look like I'm in the movie Tron, but my warm weather stuff is great... Just black. 
Night riding is allowed around me except in the state park. Even though I'm not doing anything wrong, I still keep a low profile entering and exiting the trails so not to get a bunch of me too people in there. Kinda why I go at night.


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## d365 (Jun 13, 2006)

Maybe try this.


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## DC2.2GSR (Apr 12, 2012)

> immediately I initiated "Man Protocol". In a nut shell, "Man protocol" is basically being friendly, polite, saying a lot of "yes sir" and saying nothing when you are told you are breaking the law. The first rule of "Man protocol" is, "Never argue with the Man". Believe me, this goes a long way in keeping you ticket free.


Sounds like you're being a docile sheep, just how they like it.

At any police encounter I turn on "talk to him like he's just another random guy" mode. I like to avoid feeding their already inflated egos and do what I can to avoid sending them on a power trip.

Nothing wrong with being stealthy to avoid contact, but in case you do make contact with "the man", try acting like a normal human being instead of acting like a frightened and submissive subject.


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## rschultz101 (Oct 5, 2009)

couple of thoughts from the Cod,...
- preferable ride in numbers , not alone, adds safety 
- change the trails and time, 
- change parking , and start / entry points
favorite , little change, is to ride to the trail-head, 
don't particulary like riding on the street at night, 
especially with off-road lights

little story :
one time summer night, and raining cats and dogs,
riding in a group of 7, we got stopped by a Ranger, 
and got questioned, ID's , etc.
found out, they had to deal with a homicide . 
I'am sure , it was not on their fun list to be out there.
Most of the bad stuff, is probably , teens, horsing around ,...
and at some point those teens, show up one way or another in a hospital,
what gets reported back to the local enforcement. 
---
the other one, had to work in Colorado, brought my bike, and lights.
bringing my home-made lights and batteries thought the airport, was quiet interesting,...
well, got stopped by a friendly Ranger, explaining, simple, it's not allowed.
And I went on, that, I'am prepared , and have lights.
Well he went on to ask if I read the signs, and I replied , yeah, I know, not suppose to,...
then he made me take a close look.... 
well, looked like , no dogs allowed,... but then he pointed to another one,
bears, and cougars ... ok,... and explained , people, keep ignoring the signs ,
and letting their dogs, of the leash, to report them later missing. 
Figure the mountain lions, are well fed there. 
Darn, no riding their. 
Wish they could post the fatalities per park. 
My guess, most fatalities involve other ,... people, so called off-season, hunting accidence ,...
so , glowing, reflectors, are still good item in the woods.
one girl, has a cow-bell dangling of the seat,... not for bears, but hunters,...
---
for real stealth, gotta turn of, at least the cell-phone,
next GPS , and other radio devices ,... 
and again, time and place, never the same,...and not alone is best.
--
hope I could contribute, not that my writing style is any good.
cheers, Rob


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## derekbob (May 4, 2005)

DC2.2GSR said:


> Sounds like you're being a docile sheep, just how they like it.
> 
> At any police encounter I turn on "talk to him like he's just another random guy" mode. I like to avoid feeding their already inflated egos and do what I can to avoid sending them on a power trip.
> 
> Nothing wrong with being stealthy to avoid contact, but in case you do make contact with "the man", try acting like a normal human being instead of acting like a frightened and submissive subject.


"Did you know its against the law to ride these trails at night?"

"That law is stupid! I hate you and I hate my parents!"


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

DC2.2GSR said:


> Sounds like you're being a docile sheep, just how they like it.
> 
> At any police encounter I turn on "talk to him like he's just another random guy" mode. I like to avoid feeding their already inflated egos and do what I can to avoid sending them on a power trip.
> 
> Nothing wrong with being stealthy to avoid contact, but in case you do make contact with "the man", try acting like a normal human being instead of acting like a frightened and submissive subject.


I don't think Cat was saying anything to portray himself as a "docile sheep". Not being lured into an argument (that you'll never win BTW) is the best move IMO.

"The Man" can write you a citation that sets in motion a chain of events that forces you to roll over and pay a fine or go to court and defend yourself. If all I have to do to avoid the time, hassle, and cost of that is to toss some "yessirs", "nosirs", and know when to keep the mouth shut, that's my play.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Vancbiker said:


> I don't think Cat was saying anything to portray himself as a "docile sheep". Not being lured into an argument (that you'll never win BTW) is the best move IMO.
> 
> "The Man" can write you a citation that sets in motion a chain of events that forces you to roll over and pay a fine or go to court and defend yourself. If all I have to do to avoid the time, hassle, and cost of that is to toss some "yessirs", "nosirs", and know when to keep the mouth shut, that's my play.


...Exactly...thanks Van for taking up for me. Believe me DC2, I am anything but docile. I do mostly like what you said, I act normal and make conversation. I add the "sirs" when necessary. When told I'm breaking the law as Van said, no sense trying to talk your way out of it. That shows disrespect. Never show the Man you disrespect him or what he is doing to make a living. By all means "act normal". Don't be scared or look guilty. You're out riding a bike at night getting exercise. Night bike riding is a sport. The man might not know that but you do. That's why I said to be friendly but not overly friendly. In my case I just act like I normally do. For me this works.

During my conversation with the Man I related to him how I've seen many people out on the trails at night at different times doing things that are more problematic from a law enforcement perspective. I mentioned to him that when these people see me they usually are so shocked that anyone else is out at night that when I return they are long gone. This includes the ATV'ers, the poachers and the partiers. Basically I try to indicate that I'm doing them a service by scaring these people away although in the mean time he still has to do his job. Fortunately most of my conversations with law enforcement people have been very positive. I guess I must rub them the right way.


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## NYrr496 (Sep 10, 2008)

Vancbiker said:


> I don't think Cat was saying anything to portray himself as a "docile sheep". Not being lured into an argument (that you'll never win BTW) is the best move IMO.
> 
> "The Man" can write you a citation that sets in motion a chain of events that forces you to roll over and pay a fine or go to court and defend yourself. If all I have to do to avoid the time, hassle, and cost of that is to toss some "yessirs", "nosirs", and know when to keep the mouth shut, that's my play.


Actually, an officer that wrote you a ticket for riding at night is not likely to appear in court to defend that ticket... He's banking on you just paying it. If you appear and he doesn't, you win. I've beaten a few bike path speeding tickets exactly that way.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

NYrr496 said:


> Actually, an officer that wrote you a ticket for riding at night is not likely to appear in court to defend that ticket... He's banking on you just paying it. If you appear and he doesn't, you win. I've beaten a few bike path speeding tickets exactly that way.


Of course! If one is unfortunate and receives a citation, I feel it is worth trying the hope the officer doesn't show approach (depending on the amount of the fine).

My preference would be to avoid being cited in the first place.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

d365 said:


> Maybe try this.


Believe me I've checked into it. The problem with infrared glasses is that you need an infrared projector in order to see anything at a distance. When the projector is used it appears to others as a red light and is very visible. Ideally true low-light night vision glasses would be better but those things cost major bucks and are heavy/bulky as well.

In the mean time I am revisiting the idea of a home-made "stealth light". I had a thread on it a while back. Basically I just took a low-power led torch, added some dark green translucent material to cover the lens with and then concocted a cardboard shroud to block off excessive spill. Pretty simple set-up but for the most part I felt I had no real need at the time to use it. Need I say, the situation has now changed. With the stealth light I can approach the trail head without announcing myself with my normal bright set-up. Properly aimed, the stealth light cuts off almost all spill and just gives you enough light to see about ten feet in front of you.

The scary part is that "the man" mentioned that he had taken his truck onto the trails before. I only know that because I mentioned to him that I saw car tracks on the trail. Thats when he said they were probably his tracks. Yeah, I should have figured that since the trails are gated and locked. If the man does that I'm pretty much screwed. If I ever do start to see car/truck tire tracks again I'll likely have to find a new regular place to ride.

On the plus side, the night I got caught it was a Friday ( a normal work day for most people ). Not to mention it was only about 10:30-11:00pm when I came popping out. 
Yep, time to get working on the stealth light again.

( *edit, ...Now if the man has night vision glasses I'm truly screwed. :bluefrown: )


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## AbdnBob (Oct 6, 2011)

Don't argue with anyone that assigns seating on a plane, that serves you food, or who can arrest you. Words to live by!! :thumbsup:

I too have had "The Man" mode kick in.

Cycling (commuting) on the sidewalk in an industrial estate because the road is deadly! This particular area never has pedestrians, great sight lines, and I was traveling at less than 10mph anyway. But a policeman was directing some traffic at a junction and stopped me to give a lecture about riding on the sidewalk, that I shouldn't be doing it if I was older than 12, and that if I want to cycle that route I'd have to accept the danger and take my chances.

The irony? He was directing traffic because a motorcycle had been hit by a car joining the main road at that junction. The bike was still lying in the road!!  Take my chances indeed! :madman:


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## LuminTrek (Jan 30, 2012)

I love it. Sucks you got busted at your local riding spot, but a tip of the hat...or...bike helmet for sticking with it. Hopefully you can find a way to get your night riding in without getting slammed with tickets. We have a similar issue here. Some trails are open after dark, but they're not the ones we want to ride. Such is life, I suppose.


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## wookie (Jan 24, 2007)

Become involved and get the rules changed. Is it city property? Contact your local leaders.


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## jugdish (Apr 1, 2004)

Your story sounds like what we deal with. It really does such when you have a family and that is the time you have to ride, the winter/early sundown adds to the pain. The first time I rode with a buddy who was worried that the trail was closed after sunset I informed him of my story, act ignorant of the rule, smile and be polite. He thought I was nuts until he saw the beauty in it (and how GD fun it was at night). Fortunately, we've ridden this trail system dozens of times without issue. One thing I like to do is ride in before dark, sit and have a beer until night falls then do my riding and get out. We've also been lulled into being a bit too comfortable as well. I wear all black also, stop and check the trail head from a distance if possible and ride in small numbers. Good luck.


I've also thought of telling them I had a flat, broken chain or something but that wouldn't explain why you've got $300+ worth of lights blinding them...

To the guy worried about animals. I've seen bear, moose and a mtn. lion while night riding. I wouldn't dream of letting that stop me. Life's too short to worry about that and chances are slim that they want anything from you other than the quickest exit.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

jugdish said:


> Your story sounds like what we deal with. It really does such when you have a family and that is the time you have to ride, the winter/early sundown adds to the pain. The first time I rode with a buddy who was worried that the trail was closed after sunset I informed him of my story, act ignorant of the rule, smile and be polite. He thought I was nuts until he saw the beauty in it (and how GD fun it was at night). Fortunately, we've ridden this trail system dozens of times without issue. One thing I like to do is ride in before dark, sit and have a beer until night falls then do my riding and get out. We've also been lulled into being a bit too comfortable as well. I wear all black also, stop and check the trail head from a distance if possible and ride in small numbers. Good luck.
> 
> I've also thought of telling them I had a flat, broken chain or something but that wouldn't explain why you've got $300+ worth of lights blinding them...
> 
> To the guy worried about animals. I've seen bear, moose and a mtn. lion while night riding. I wouldn't dream of letting that stop me. Life's too short to worry about that and chances are slim that they want anything from you other than the quickest exit.


Yep, back in the early days of halogen I used to ride the local park on a regular basis. Back then MTB night riding was an emerging niche and rarely did I see anyone else. I quickly learned that as long as you stayed to the wooded trails no one would bother you. The other big lesson I learned was, "never park at the trail heads or in the park itself". That's because sometimes they will sit there waiting for you to return to your car.

Finally I had to give up riding at the local park because I was just having too many run in's with _the man_. I never got a ticket but you can only press your luck so far. The final straw was when I noticed many new houses being built near the park. Some of those trails ran very close to the yards and people tend to get antsy when they see lights going through the woods in the middle of the night close to their new half a million dollar homes.

My current favorite destination is much more secluded and for more than 5 years I've never had a run in with the man until now. Likely it was all just dumb luck but until then no one ever told me it was illegal to ride the area at night although admittedly I already know that almost all park or watershed areas are off limits at night. This tics me off because now I can't claim ignorance. Since none of the trail heads in this area had signs I was good before all this happened. Now I'm back to my old stealth protocols....at least for the time being.

The major PITA of all this is dealing with the increased paranoia factor which tends to be a major buzz kill ( not the drug induced kind ). Now I have to worry about what I might see while on my current regular ride. So far I've never seen _the man_ actually on the trails back in the woods. Hopefully I never will. As for now I have to be real carefully when exiting the trail heads. Never again will I just pop out with a couple lights still on.

Side Note: while on the subject, here's an old story from yesteryear. This goes back maybe ten years ago....
I was riding out late down at the local park. This park has a river with a nice dammed area that is a rather nice, peaceful place to rest while riding. Anyway one night while resting at the dam I happened to notice a car coming up the dam service road. I immediately knew this had to be _the man_ because the park roads are closed at night. Not wanting to be caught I decided to hide behind a very large wall that went almost all the way down to the water. So the man get outs and starts shining a flashlight around. Apparently he is looking for someone/something. He finally walks over to the wall where I am hiding about ten feet below. At this point he is directly over top of me and is shining the light out towards the water. The suspense was killing me. All he had to do was shine that light "down" and he had me. I felt like an escaped prisoner from a Nazi death camp as I sat there with bated breath. Finally I just couldn't take it anymore. So anyway I decide to speak out. Boy, I must of scared the heck out of that guy. 

When I got back up to the road I gave him a very lame excuse but for the most part he wasn't concerned with me once he found out I wasn't parked in the Park. He was looking for whoever it was that left their car in the Park parking lot....:madman:... Ah, those were the days.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

So last night I decided to redo my favorite ride. I was considering taking a stealth light but figured that since there was a near full moon that I could just ride by moon light when I got to the end of the ride.

When I was headed back, about at the half way point I saw some flashes in the sky and the rumble of thunder. Quickly I stopped and pulled out the smart phone to check the local radar. Turns out I had a small cell about 5 miles away and headed my direction. That meant I was going to have push it if I was going to beat the storm. As soon as I started riding again I heard a very loud boom off in the direction of the local housing. At first I thought it was thunder but there had been no flash. Strange but I quickly forgot about it and beat feet down the trail.

When I started getting closer to the trail head I began using Ghost protocol....lights out. No sooner did I turn my lights off I rounded a turn and suddenly heard a man's voice almost right in front of me. :yikes: I almost jumped out of my skin. My first thought within the first millisecond of hearing the voice was, "Oh no, _The Man_. Immediately I turned my Gloworm on. No more than 15 ft. ahead of me was a guy and a girl out for a midnight stroll! :crazy:

I sure am glad the guy spoke out. He must of heard the rattle of my chain when I came around the turn. Now if he hadn't spoken out chances are I'd of run um' down. I've been riding at night a long time and I don't think I've ever had something like that happen before. First time for everything I suppose. 

After I realized that all was good I told them of the impending storm and continued on. That's when I realized that the people on the trail likely left their car at the trail head...:madman: OH CRAP! If the man is around he'll be waiting by the car for sure. :bluefrown: Still, the storm was getting closer. When I got to the trail head I gave a quick look-see....saw the coast was clear and took off down the road. I still had 2.5 miles to go and most of it uphill. If I made it back before the storm hit I was going to be lucky.

Now as I started down the quiet county road I could hear the whining of an ER vehicle heading my way. He passed me going full tilt toward the area I was leaving. At that point I turned around to check for any traffic. That was when I noticed the glow of a raging fire back beyond the forest I had just left. Whatever that "Boom" I heard earlier was it was now a major fire. :eekster:

As I made my way back two more Fire trucks passed and one ambulance. An eventful night to say the least. When I was about 1000 ft from my car the rain began to fall. Since I parked in a school parking lot I just rode over to the school entrance and got under a covered area until the rain passed which fortunately only took a couple minutes

The lesson here is quite simple: You never quite know whats' going to happen on a night ride. Next time I'll bring the stealth light...No more riding with just moon light unless there is no canopy. :thumbsup:


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## aBicycle (Jun 13, 2012)

Cat-man-do said:


> So last night I decided to redo my favorite ride. I was considering taking a stealth light but figured that since there was a near full moon that I could just ride by moon light when I got to the end of the ride.
> 
> When I was headed back, about at the half way point I saw some flashes in the sky and the rumble of thunder. Quickly I stopped and pulled out the smart phone to check the local radar. Turns out I had a small cell about 5 miles away and headed my direction. That meant I was going to have push it if I was going to beat the storm. As soon as I started riding again I heard a very loud boom off in the direction of the local housing. At first I thought it was thunder but there had been no flash. Strange but I quickly forgot about it and beat feet down the trail.
> 
> ...


You need a blog.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

aBicycle said:


> You need a blog.


Yeah, I suppose you're right. Like most people I started a blog years ago and afterwards forgot about the whole thing.

I started the thread because I felt people who are considering night riding might want to hear about others "actual experiences" while riding at night. Besides this is the "Lights and Night riding" forum. It gets boring talking about lights all the time. I figured it would be nice to talk about actual night riding and hear the experiences that others might come up with. My intent is to create dialog. The board has been quiet lately.

I rarely have read what other people write in their blogs. The few that I have read get boring very quickly. That's probably because people talk about all kinds of different things on their blogs which for the most part doesn't interest me.

Anyway, sorry if I imposed a couple stories of my personal night ride experiences. Don't worry, if I don't get positive reinforcement I'll stop.


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## OpenLight (Oct 17, 2011)

I had a similar experience a couple of months ago on a night ride. As we reached the trail head and were loading the bikes up a car pulled into the parking lot. I joked with my buddies that it was the police and we were busted. Sure enough it was a sheriff car and he pulled up and rolled down his window. Fortunately for us, in Montana it is not against the law to ride at night on most trails. He was bored and pulled over to watch our descent from the side of the road. He told us that he was hoping that one of us would fall down but when we did not, he drove over to make sure that we were not motorcycles on the trail (which would have been against the law).

I do try to invite one of my buddies who is on the local police force to ride with us a couple of times a year so that I have the option of throwing his name out if we were to get into trouble  but for the most part I ride at night to not see anyone else and I like it best when that is how it works out.

Sorry Cat, not as cool as your story, but that is the best I have so far.


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## mechBgon (Jan 28, 2007)

If I were riding after dark and the park rangers called me out on it, I'd put it this way:

ok you're right, but listen. This is the time I have in my day to ride here, and I'm just riding familiar trails for 1-2 hours to get some exercise, and then I'm out of here. I'm not partying, starting fires, shooting guns or anything. And I support the park, I've got my Washington Discover Pass to prove it _*pulls it out of Camelbak*_. Can you cut me some slack on this one.


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## aBicycle (Jun 13, 2012)

Why don't you just get permission to ride at night?


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## Bernhardt (Mar 25, 2006)

I have no encounters to report myself, but I run ghost or low light all the time when entering/exiting or running near a perimeter that borders on a road or housing to reduce attention attraction. I'm not into advertising/encouraging what I'm doing. The less attention night riding draws, the less it gets enforced by the man should the location be illegal at night.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

aBicycle said:


> Why don't you just get permission to ride at night?


....because basically the system doesn't work that way. Once a law or statute is on the books it takes the voices of thousands to get it overturned. I have nether the time, money or patience to deal with such things.

Next time you go to court, try to remember how many people are there to ask permission from the judge if they can drive as fast as they want. Then when you're finished doing that try to recount the number of people you see driving a vehicle over the posted speed limit.

Now if the Governor of your state is your brother-in-law or cousin you might stand a better chance of getting permission. If not than both you and a snowball have about the same chance to either get permission or to overturn those hell-bent regulations.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

*Stealth riding 101*

Something I just want to note from the ride I took last night: Last night I rode another park. The rangers at this park are more tolerant because it also has a camp ground. Still I ride in from off site and try to stay out of their radar so to speak. 
The trails interlace with the park forest roads so you have to come out in the open every once in a while. That's when I try to initiate "Ghost protocol". Ride and not be seen.

One of the things you really have to hate about almost all bike lights is that there is no "instant off " feature. Almost all are "press and hold" to turn off. Sometimes that can take several seconds. For stealth purposes they are useless. That's why I always ride with a back up torch.

A torch on the bars can be very useful for stealth. All the ones I own have a rear clicky. Press click on, press click off...stupid simple. Momentary press for mode changes. There are times when you really do want to turn the light off FAST!.

Last night after crossing over a park road I was following a trail that closely paralleled the road. With lights on I would of been visible from the road. Suddenly I heard the sound of a truck coming up the park road. Quickly I went "Lights out " and then turned around so my pack reflectors wouldn't give me away. Luckily I was not seen and the truck sped off down another road. At that time of night it had to be one of the rangers, no doubt in my mind. After that I was careful at all the road intersections the rest of the night.

I can't remember the first time I played "hide and seek" as a kid. I guess some things you never out-grow. :thumbsup:


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## JerB (Jul 10, 2012)

I had a similar experience this morning. I was out biking and a cop rolled up and started asking questions about my bike, I guess some were stolen earlier in the morning or that night before. Once I told him it was indeed mine and that I live right around the corner and could get him the paperwork for my bike he said it was fine I didn't have to. I guess he could see that I was telling the truth. I just talked to him a like a normal guy.

Now I'm worried that if I go for a early morning bike ride are they going to come shake my monkey tree for any crime that gets committed in the city?? The only time I can really go for rides is first thing.


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## NYrr496 (Sep 10, 2008)

That's funny. If you were all suited up and looked "right" on the bike, I'm surprised he bothered with you at all... 
Now, if you weren't in bike clothes and on a high end bike, that makes me take notice.


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## wschruba (Apr 13, 2012)

Cat: it might interest you to know that I have an EOS Bike by Ptec, and it has an instant off button after the light has been on for a couple of seconds in the mode you want. At ~80 lumens, it might fit what you are looking for. Nice clean box for it's light pattern, too.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

wschruba said:


> Cat: it might interest you to know that I have an EOS Bike by Ptec, and it has an instant off button after the light has been on for a couple of seconds in the mode you want. At ~80 lumens, it might fit what you are looking for. Nice clean box for it's light pattern, too.


Interesting little light. I already have a nice little light that puts out about 60 lm but it doesn't have memory or instant off. ( off is a push/hold slow fade ) Lately I've been thinking about making a mini stealth light. I'll keep this light in mind. A good stealth light doesn't need long run time or too bright an output. I do need something small. The EOS is a little bigger than the one I have but should be small enough not to take up too much more room on the bars.


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## tunajuice (May 20, 2009)

*popping out the trail head*

Where I ride the trees and bushes start just a couple of feet from the trailhead/parking lot. Makes for a heavy screen/canopy that masks your presence until you pop out. Several times I have popped out to find kids burning herb or drinking, heads popping up from steamy windowed cars, and social groups gathering from a night outting of their own. I think I'm last thing they expected to see given their shocked looks - particularly on winter nights when it's cold and raining and no one should be on the trail at night.

Embarrasses me how bright my lights are but I usually forget to dim until I hit pavement


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

tunajuice said:


> Where I ride the trees and bushes start just a couple of feet from the trailhead/parking lot. Makes for a heavy screen/canopy that masks your presence until you pop out. Several times I have popped out to find kids burning herb or drinking, heads popping up from steamy windowed cars, and social groups gathering from a night outting of their own. I think I'm last thing they expected to see given their shocked looks - particularly on winter nights when it's cold and raining and no one should be on the trail at night.
> 
> Embarrasses me how bright my lights are but I usually forget to dim until I hit pavement


You never know what or who is going to be at a trail head in the middle of the night. Like you I've run into the typical stuff like the local youth just hanging out doing their thing. I think the funniest thing I ever encountered at a trail head at night was during the old days of halogen lights. Back then almost nobody was doing mountain bike riding at night. ...so anyway, late one night I'm crossing over a road/trail head from one park and into another park. Back in those days I wasn't so concerned about the man but I still didn't want to attract attention from cars that might be driving by. Because it was quite late the road was very quiet. I popped out with my lights blaring away. All I had to do was cross the road and enter the woods on the other side, maybe 75ft or so from where I was. That's when I seen the truck parked on the other side of the road.

Having no choice I had to ride around it. As I slowly circled to get around the truck I saw a man jump out. He just happened to be completely naked. If I could of possibly found a way to, _"Not light him up_", I would have but he was blocking the trail entrance so I had no choice but to point the Niterider helmet lamp almost right at him. He just stood there....like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, completely speechless. I as passed I uttered something like, "You know you should really put some clothes on". I continued on without missing a beat and quickly disappeared into the woods. I wasn't about to have a prolonged conversation with a naked man in the middle of the night. ( and to those who may wonder...no, I did not see a woman...unfortunately... :smilewinkgrin:

P.S Now if I had seen a woman...:ihih:,.. I just might have been tempted to do a complete circle around the truck, then stop for a moment and say something like, " _Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon"._


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## Jocko8752 (May 7, 2012)

I haven't started night riding yet (just ordered a Magicshine, will be delivered this week); however I just wanted to add that I've really enjoyed all the stories about night riding posted in this thread. Keep em coming!

I hope to have my own crazy stories to share soon!

-Jocko


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## ljracer (Nov 6, 2009)

*Weird stuff on a night ride*

Here's a night riding story; not related to "the man" just man.

Back on the weekend after the fourth of July my family was off at the beach for the week and because I was working I wasn't able to get out to meet them. So after a couple of beers on a Friday night I decided to hear out for a ride on my local trails.

I knew I would be coming back in the dark and so I loaded up my V1 and V2 Gloworm X2's.

Somewhere around 2 hours into the ride at 8:30 it was too dark to ride by the evening light so I flicked on my lights and turned around.

I ended up seeing a bunch of local wild life; Pretty much a little of everything. Saw a rattler, a pair of coyotes, lots of owls, plenty of kangaroo mice, rabbits, one raccoon who was a little reluctant to let me pass him. I was worried about him chomping on my ankles.

Being a Friday night I really didn't expect to see anyone out there. But as I was getting close to the trail head (about a mile away) I saw one guy walking towards me. As I rode past him I tried not to blast him with light as I was running about 2400 lumens on boost.
The weirdest part is when I got right next to him there were 5 Mexicans laying in the trail on their backs looking at me like I'm a UFO. It was really weird, keep in mind there are plenty of tarantulas and scorpions and fire ants out there and don't make for much fun to lay down on. Non of them appear to have any lights. I didn't stop to ask questions but picked up the pace quite a bit.

Have no idea what they were up to...


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

*Night Wars: The man fights back*

....So I decided to go out today to scout out a new spot where I can do my beam test for the S-12....

i went down to the local ( state ) park that is a prime location in my area for MTB'ing. Leaving the bike home I just wanted to find a place where I could park and walk my camera gear in. So anyway from the trail head I start walking down the trail towards the area that I have in mind. I'm doing this in the day time so I can see what I'm dealing with. Not more than a 100ft into the woods something caught my eye not more than 25ft to the side and mounted on a tree. This was an area with a lot of trees so really strange something this far back into the woods would catch my eye. At first I thought it was just a strange shaped knot on a tree because it was the same color as the tree. A closer inspection revealed much more. Definitely an infrared camera set up and for the record this is not one of those commercial brands used for hunting. ( no hunting allow in this park anyway ) This can serve no purpose but to monitor people who are using the park after dark.

I don't know why I should let this kind of thing bother me but it does. There are speed and red-light cameras all throughout my state. Most of the time though there are warning signs and most of the cameras are very visible. Not so for these "Park watch" cameras. I find the whole issue very disgusting. So nice to know that the state is so worried about "who is riding/using the park at night" that they feel the need to incorporate hidden camouflaged cameras. Who knows how many other places are doing the same thing.

It used to be that when you went out into the woods that you considered it an escape from the crazy fast paced world we live it. Now you might have someone watching you even in the woods...Utterly disgusting.


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## patski (Dec 12, 2005)

Around here, Folsom Lake, even though you have to exit 1 hr after sundown, it's like I80 after dark, I suppose they still enforce the rules....


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