A walk in the park
I didn't drink as a teenager - something about it didn't work with me until much later - this is important to this story.

July probably - I was about 19, it was a hot overcast night with occasional flickers of lightning between the clouds but no rumbles and no rainfall. No moon either. I'd been with friends across town, chilling, and was going home around midnight on my mountain bike. To avoid going through the town centre (bit rowdy at that time of night) I decided to cross the park down to the main road and continue from there... it was slightly further but meant I'd have quite flat roads for cycling on, as always without lights

We'll call this park Gadebridge Park, as that was its name.
I dismounted as I left the roads into the park as it was dark, I had no lights, my bike was nearly knackered and the ground was bumpy.. the crossing over to the main road was only about 300 metres so this wouldnt add any time but might save me piling into one of the many bushes along the way

Halfway across: I was passing between a clump of about 6 trees when I spotted someone walking on a path that would cross my own if I continued out into the open again. I was by chance dressed in black, wheeling an unlit green bicycle, and among trees.. so I paused to see who was coming, whether they were actually heading for me or just crossing my path.

he passed about 20 metres away without changing course. He was bald, heavily muscled, and naked apart from what seemed like a brown towel around his waist, he didn't even have shoes on. He never looked my way and I was convinced he hadn't seen me. I waited for him to get a reasonable distance away, congratulating myself on avoiding some sort of pervert and preparing to slip away back down his course and out of the park onto lit roads.

I watched right up til the point he walked through a very well-established and large tree. Then I mounted up and sped.
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Thu 13 Sep 2012, 18:44, 5 replies)

It took me a second glance
and then I noticed the 'through'. I couldn't cycle away fast enough were I to see something like that while being stone cold sober.
(louveciennes , Volvospotter, Thu 13 Sep 2012, 19:51, closed)

I probably did set a speed record for the distance back home.... took ages before I could go through that park again.
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Sat 15 Sep 2012, 10:13, closed)

Personally
I read the "It was dark and I had no lights" part, then interpreted the rest in that context,
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 14 Sep 2012, 1:09, closed)

Also
I have cycled hundreds of miles at night with minimal lighting. Most of the time I wouldn't be able to see a single thing at 20m, let alone distinguish what it was wearing or, shock horror, if it simply went BEHIND the tree.
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 14 Sep 2012, 1:12, closed)

in context, i was at this point only about 70 metres from the lit road on the far side of the park.
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Fri 14 Sep 2012, 1:17, closed)