Something strange happens when you ride at night. Something magical, I'd say: The world gets smaller. Much smaller. As small as the cone of light from your headlamp. Everything else disappears — the landscape, the horizon, swallowed by darkness. All that's left is the crunch of gravel under your tires, your breathing, maybe a podcast in your ear.
But why? Why would anyone do this? Because riding through the night is a special experience.
Everything slows down but feels faster. Your senses sharpen. Every sound suddenly matters. A branch. An animal rustling in the bushes. Wind. During the day, you ride through the landscape. At night, you ride into yourself.
And yes — it feels wrong at first. Everything inside you says: You shouldn't be on a bike right now. You should be asleep. Cycling is a daytime thing. You don't ride bikes at night.
At some point, it shifts. You don't notice right away, but the tension from the beginning is gone. The darkness isn't strange anymore — it's just normal. You find a rhythm, and time starts moving differently. You'll notice that time at night doesn't pass the way it does in daylight. And when the first birds start singing and the sun appears on the horizon, you've spent an entire night on the bike.
Night riding is part of every ultra. But during an ultra, it comes on top of everything else — all the other challenges, all the firsts. When everything already hurts a little too much and your eyes are getting heavy, that's when you have to ride through the night. That's why we built the Night Shift: the experience of riding through the night, isolated and on its own. Friday evening out, Saturday morning back. Fresh legs, well rested, 250 kilometers through the darkness. A special experience — we promise.
See you next time.
Rasmus, Jasper, David and Jan
