There's a mountain bike trail I like to ride here in OC called The Luge. It's in the Cleveland National Forest which means it's open 24 hours, thus it's a popular trail for local MTBers to ride at night in the late fall and winter months when the sun sets early.
It was late October and I drove up to the Luge for a weeknight after work MTB ride. My usual riding crew couldn't make it so it was gonna be a solo ride. Ordinarily this would not be considered a good idea (MTB ride solo in the dark) but The Luge is really popular on weekday evenings. There's literally always someone riding the trail. I figured why not.. I'm gonna ride it. I've ridden the trail countless times and it wasn't all that long of a ride.. 1 hour tops.
Weather was typical SoCal Santa Ana windy and warm. The winds died down and there was an eerie quiet. More importantly, there was NOBODY else out there. I found myself getting a bit freaked out and pedaling faster than normal. Keep in mind, this trail is located less than a mile away from a trail where another mountain biker was killed by a mountain lion back in 2004.
I got to the top of The Luge (the final downhill segment of the trail before returning to the car) and all of a sudden I heard a loud moaning sound come from the bushes. I had noidea what it was but I wasn't about to find out of it was a mountain lion so I put the bike into overdrive and absolutely shredded it down The Luge. Fastest run I ever made on that trail. I was scared sh!tless.
When I got to the bottom I caught up to another group of riders. I told them about what happened and one of them said, "Oh yeah.. Someone hid one of those motion sensing halloween prank things in the bushes.. You know, the things that make weird noises."
Whoever did that got me BIGTIME.
It was late October and I drove up to the Luge for a weeknight after work MTB ride. My usual riding crew couldn't make it so it was gonna be a solo ride. Ordinarily this would not be considered a good idea (MTB ride solo in the dark) but The Luge is really popular on weekday evenings. There's literally always someone riding the trail. I figured why not.. I'm gonna ride it. I've ridden the trail countless times and it wasn't all that long of a ride.. 1 hour tops.
Weather was typical SoCal Santa Ana windy and warm. The winds died down and there was an eerie quiet. More importantly, there was NOBODY else out there. I found myself getting a bit freaked out and pedaling faster than normal. Keep in mind, this trail is located less than a mile away from a trail where another mountain biker was killed by a mountain lion back in 2004.
I got to the top of The Luge (the final downhill segment of the trail before returning to the car) and all of a sudden I heard a loud moaning sound come from the bushes. I had noidea what it was but I wasn't about to find out of it was a mountain lion so I put the bike into overdrive and absolutely shredded it down The Luge. Fastest run I ever made on that trail. I was scared sh!tless.
When I got to the bottom I caught up to another group of riders. I told them about what happened and one of them said, "Oh yeah.. Someone hid one of those motion sensing halloween prank things in the bushes.. You know, the things that make weird noises."
Whoever did that got me BIGTIME.