© 1996 The Courier Journal, Louisville, Kentucky. Reprinted with
permission.
As a handful of bikers pedaled last week under night skies through
the pin oaks at Waverly Park in southern Jefferson County, only the
owls and possums, the raccoons, crickets and flying squirrels saw
their headlamps beam and heard their rubber on the road.
"It's an adrenaline rush," said Leta Weedman, a medical editor who
rode with the Kentucky Mountain Bike Association. "Humans are visual
creatures, and in the dark you have to rely on different senses to
get you around. You hear all the night sounds, the night insects, and
come upon different kinds of animals you wouldn't see during the
day."
Nighttime is attracting increasing numbers of joggers, skaters,
cyclists and hikers. Well-worn trails become adventurous after dark.
Daytime crowds and traffic are gone by sundown, so in-line skaters
have more open road.
Demand for moonlight boating and kayaking on Elkhorn Creek in
Frankfort has "doubled or tripled," said Ed Council, owner of Canoe
Kentucky. "It's increasingly a popular thing to do, especially among
groups that want to have a unique outing. People are doing more and
more outdoor activities, but at night it's a whole different
experience. It's almost a religious experience."
Rod Napier of Cabbage Patch Settlement House in Louisville
rhapsodizes about floating under moonlit skies on a remote Canadian
lake during a recent canoeing trip: "Moon rays were shimmering on the
water. Loons were calling and moose were coming down to the
shoreline. It was a very relaxing, calm time, just a special time at
night that aesthetically had a lot of appeal." Reliable figures on
nocturnal sports activities aren't available, but health clubs
extended nighttime hours years ago for professionals working
irregular schedules.
Now more than 20 percent of U.S. jobholders work shifts other than
9-to-5. And Weedman, vice president of the Kentucky Mountain Bike
Association's Louisville chapter, says that when fall arrives and
darkness descends earlier, "we don't have a chance to get in a ride
in daylight after work."The group also sponsors an annual Halloween
night ride-bikers in costume follow the Cherokee Park bike trail to
Ohio River and ride the shoreline path.
Experienced hikers, families and scout troops also enjoy walking in
dark woods. Larry Hilton, naturalist at the Jefferson County Memorial
Forest, said that last year the forest received "deluges of phone
calls requesting night hikes, and a as result we offered more than we
originally planned."
Margaret Pentecost uses overnight camping to teach team-building and
leadership skills as curriculum coordinator for residency, family and
community medicine at the University of Louisville.
"There's something about the night that invites interaction," she
said." It breaks walls down just a bit where people will communicate
better, especially with inner-city kids. Very rarely are they
anywhere there are no lights."
With the vogue in nocturnal recreation has emerged a market for
tailor-made gear. Years ago many makes of running and basketball
shoes added reflectors or heel inserts that blink upon impact. And
now there's everything from reflective clothing to night-vision
binoculars and gun sights, rotating lights on in-line skates and
luminous footballs that help sports enthusiasts play in the dark.
The Quest Outdoors store in Matthews carries an assortment of
headlamps, from 30-foot beams to 100-meter beams, said general
manager Bryce Malone. They are "designed for nighttime hiking and
setting up camp but are adequate for cycling, paddling and other
outdoor activities."
"The store also sells safety "cylinder sticks" that emit an
incandescent glow when snapped. "People leave them lying around camp
to help them find the way back in the dark," Malone said.
"I actually fell a couple of times," Weedman said. "I hit some
sticks. I didn't really have any lights but was riding between people
who did." Dr. Richard Fee, chairman of the health promotion, physical
education and sports studies department at U of L, said of nighttime
sports:
"Sure it's a challenge, an adrenaline rush, because you don't have as
good a visual field. But there have been lots of hikers in Kentucky
who walked off the edge of cliffs and stumbled into sinkholes being
out at night. The dangers are much magnified. It's something I don't
recommend at all."
The lights of 260 bicycles twinkled through the streets of Colorado
Springs during the early hours of June 30. It was the 2nd annual
Starlight Spectacular Bike Ride, a benefit for the Pikes Peak Area
Trails Coalition.
The 20-mile ride began at 2:30 a.m. as riders, some draped in
Christmas tree lights, set off in groups of 30-40 on a trip through
the sleeping city, ending up in Garden of the Gods Park for
breakfast. The event raised $5,000 for the Coalition.
For more information: 719/633-6884.