|   First night ride | pedalAZ
Jul 13, 2002 4:24 PM | | "It was a dark and stormy night." - Snoopy
We bailed on Tuesday night's planned ride when the first monsoon of the season rolled across the Valley of the Sun with a whole lotta lightning in its path. Huge clowds of dust whipped up from the desert southeast of Phoenix darkened the sky and blew grit in our eyes and mouths. The lightning got worse as we waited half an hour past our planned 7:45 pm start. Punt 'til Friday night.
Friday, we rendezvoused along Rio Verde Drive, north of Fountain Hills, and just south of the entrance to McDowell Mountain Regional Park, which closes every evening before dark. Our plan was to hop the fence and ride a combination of the technical and long loops of the Park's MTB race trails (site of recent 24 Hrs of Adrenalin and Cactus Cup series races), about 11 miles. We started riding a little before 8:00, when there was just enough light to ride without lights.
The monsoon was still in town, and had dumped a hard, windy rain in the northwest valley. Way out east, where we were riding, the storm had long since passed, leaving relative calm in its wake, a light breeze, and a few raindrops had erased evidence of recent tire tracks on the singletrack. Following the storm and the sunset, the temperature dropped rapidly from the day's high of about 111 down to the mid 80's.
Six riders started off down the dry wash to intercept our trail. Within 100 yards, we got onto singletrack and switched on our lights. As a virgin under the lights, I was apprehensive, and didn't know how to aim my two lights, a pair of Nite Riders, on on the bar and one on my helmet. Both were aimed to spot the ground too close to the bike; until our first rest stop, I'd be tailgating the leaders for the benefit of their lights and a clue as to what turns would be coming.
The riders ahead of me were three members of a 4-ride team from this past Spring's 24 hour race, Dave, Kevin, and Kristie (h&w). They are experienced night riders and ride 2-3 times a week year 'round. I've een privileged to join them for most of my riding experience. Behind me were Doug and Michelle (h&w), who would be taking a shorter ride and meeting us back at the cars.
This part of the loop is probably the easiest: it is wide, and dominated by low rollers through decomposed granite and few rocks until we get to the regular trailhead in a mile. After regrouping at the trailhead, just as we were ready to start again we saw movement ahead of us on the trail in the little daylight that remained. A couple of joggers with no lights. Michigan and Ontario (CAN)! Boy were they lost. Actually, this was a workout break on their way to the Grand Canyon today. They thought our lighted rigs were amazing and ran back the trail so they could watch us ride by in our single file formation.
It was now dark, with just a faint reflection of distant city lights on the low cloud cover. I had raised the beam on both my lights and could ride quite a bit faster, although the constant criss crossing of the helmet light across the bar mounted light was distracting, I wondered whether just the helemt light alone would be preferable but continued on.
Soon I could see the active insect and animal comunity that is not evident during the heat of the day. Lots of small mice scampereda across the trail between bikes. Riders called out tarantula sightings with surprising frequency. I think we got up to about 15. These guys are pretty cool: big and hairy, with multiple colors in orange and brown tones. Fortunately, no rattlers who prefer the cooler evening hours for hunting food.
I couldn't focus too hard on wildlife, as I was more concerned about our local flora. The ever present variety of cholla cactus line this trail, often providing the reason for a quick change in the trail's direction. Easy to dodge in the daylight, they came with a lot less warning in the dark, and leaving the trail to dodge them was more likely to cause a crash at night than during the day, as it would be harder to spot a line back to the safety of the trail.
About 6 miles in, I was offered the chance to lead. No longer could I rely on cues from the lights ahead of me for upcoming turns and drops, yet I was determined to maintain the pace, so I doubled my effort and took off. This left me a lot more tired than in previous daytime trips around the route, despite an elapsed time of about 15 minutes than before, as I had a lot of adrenalin running through me while weaving around the cactus and working harder to stay on line.
I surrendered the lead on a big, climbing switchback just before getting to the rockiest part of the trail where I usually do well, aided by the great suspension on my Racer X. Getting back in line, I caught up with the leaders just as Kevin launched himself over the bars and into the shrubbery. Lucky for Kevin, he hit a bunch of brittlebush plants instead of the cholla. He still doesn't know what got him as it happened so fast.
Before too long we found the wash where we would turn off to the cars. Doug and Michelle were back ahead of us and flashed their headlights to confirm we had arrived. They advised us that Smokey had visited while we we on the trail, leaving each car with a $60 parking ticket for parking in a streambed, over 6 miles from the nearest homes. Sheesh.
Night riding is definitely harder, and requires more concentration, presenting an attractive challenge, particularly attractive when it provides a 20 degree relief from our daytime highs. I'm sure to be out again soon.
I got home after 10:30 last night, but had to be at the intersections of Trails 8 and 100 at 7:30 am this morning to meet another Passionite, a ride of 40 minutes from my house, taking me over a big mountain. I bonked after about 8 miles (into a ride of 12) from a deadly combination of too little recovery time, too little fuel, rising temperature, and pain from a nice back endo onto a rock on the way to the meeting! |
| re: First night ride | Yeti_Rider
Jul 13, 2002 5:19 PM | | Sweet!
Night riding is the best thing I ever did (after daytime riding of course)
the first few times it was kind of spooky but after that you get used to it. You'll also adjust better if you do familiar trails for a while because you at least will know the trail and terrain and can better anticipate what is coming ahead.
I usually have my handlebar clamp for my NR light set so I can move it up and down a bit as I ride. it never vibrates out of position because the force of the clamp is too great, but the rubber thingy's seem to offer enough give to rotate the light just a bit. IT makes on the fly adjustments a little easier.
The helmet light just needs to be experimented with to find the best position but once it's figured out, REMEMBER IT!
In time you'll be riding along out of sight from your riding buddies (it may only be 50 feet but due to brush and turns you'll feel alone) adn then you'll hear something running through the brush that sounds awfully BIG! It's a weird/cool/fun feeling all at the same time.
Michael |
| Night ride story time... | DurtGurl
Jul 13, 2002 5:40 PM | | I was riding on Desert Classic this spring on the weekly Thursday night ride, a bit behind my two riding partners but not too far. There I was, on a very familiar trail that I could probably do with no lights at all, feeling very comfy in my zone, and suddenly it became a place of horror. YIKES!!!! Something was in the brush beside me, thundering along at my fast pace. I was so terrified, that I let out the girliest series of yelps that I think have ever left my body. Seems that the guys ahead had startled a pack of javalina. I never saw the beasts, but I will never forget that shock of instant terror in a place where I usual feel so at home.
Anyhow, I welcome you, PedalAZ, to the club of AZ niteriders! Don't do like I do too often and ride alone at night. If you do, bring your cell phone. You are right to beware the cholla. I clipped one at night about a year ago and those nasty needles went right through my gloves, thru my fingernails, and rooted deep into the flesh. ouch!
Kathleen |
| Night ride story time... | Yeti_Rider
Jul 13, 2002 8:32 PM | | Ewwwwwww.
Wihtout knowing what a Javalina was, a quick search yielded the beast. I wouldn't want to come across any of those.
Generally we just see the bunnies, deer, and Tarantulas out here in San Diego. There's also some species of owl that likes to sit on the trail so we'll come across those sometimes too.
Once I was leading out and I came around a corner (slight uphill so not too fast) and there were four skunks right in the trail! Before I knew what they were I already passed two of them so I had no choice but to try and make it bast the other two before they were too spooked. Fortunately I made it and my buddies all stopped on the other side. The skunks didn't look to starteled as they simply wandered off the trail on their own (thank god, I really didn't need to get sprayed).
Michael |
| Night ride story time... | E2cflyr
Jul 13, 2002 9:30 PM | | Awesome story! reminds me of some night hikes that I'va done out by the AZ-Sonora Desert museum in Tucson. nice stuff. wish I was out riding...but I sit her typing and attempting to get pumped up for tomorrow's death-march triathlon (read: big hills, easy on a bike, not on foot)
E2
Time to buy a nite light for rides! |
| javalina | maySS
Jul 14, 2002 6:35 AM | | http://www.newsrobot.com/azimages/javalina/ |
| We had some pet javelinas at our ranch a few years ago | pedalAZ
Jul 13, 2002 8:41 PM | | It was a pair of females. We named them after my mom and her sister! One of the cowboys had spotted them as little babies during roundup. There was no sign of the mother, so he put the two of them in his coat pockets and spent the rest of the day working on horseback with them still in there. After the day's work was done, and he rde back to the house in one of the pickups, he fed them from a baby bottle. Well, sure enough, they mothered up to him after that. His name was Cole, and one of his chores was milking the cow every morning. The two pigs would wait for him outside his house, and follow him down to the barn, then follow him around the headquarters until he left on horseback or in a truck. They stayed real tame, hung around until they were pretty big, and then finally took off about 2 years later. They were happy to come up and eat out of your hand.
They were real nimble, too. It was nothing for them to scamper over a 4 foot wall into the front yard.
As a result, I think of them as kinda cute, but they'll get vicious and attack in the wild when provoked. Great sense of smell, but poor eyesight.
I'll bet they scared the Durt out of you! |
| ...pleasure meeting you | sdbelt
Jul 13, 2002 8:50 PM | | It was a pleasure meeting you today. Sorry about the bonk this morning, before we hooked up, but at least the rest of our ride together was "uneventful". The Racer X is certainly a joy to ride.
When and if my skills get a little better, I'll have to consider some night riding, particularly this winter.
--sdb |
| Almost joined you... | Fat-tire
Jul 14, 2002 1:56 PM | | but I had to up by 4:30, and I knew it'd be a long one.
Didn't realize you've never rode at night. Blast huh?
Sh!tty about the parking ticket. I was a bit skeptical about parking off the road, and it looks like I shoudl have been. Oh well, at least you had fun. |
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