Lorri:

It seems like you have confronted your fear - you just need more practice riding at night - and yeah, you are right you can't control things at night, you just have to go for it. Let the bike roll and roll right over the stuff I've ridden over at Lake Chabot at night (we used to live just over the hill in San Leandro so I used to ride that park all the time)

I've ridden over there even without a light on a full moon night - it wasn't too bad. But, in the trees some people had lights so I had to hustle to keep up so I could see better.

I've done the 24 hours in the Old Pueblo a couple of times in a four lady team. There is one section that has a LOT of cactus really close to the trail. The first time I rode it in the day it was really hard - I was really afraid I was going to hit some of it. Funny thing, it was easier to ride at night just had to stay in the middle of the trail and keep turning to avoid the shadows! A little freaky the first time, but after the first time, it was a piece of cake.

I've found that once I learned to just go with the bike at night, I'm a better rider at night than in the day! I can't see the technical stuff so I ride right over it and just looking at it doesn't freak me out!

It just takes practice like everything else