PMP Night Ride Action

With summer in the desert comes night rides and because of this, I actually have a reason to look forward to the heat, since night riding brings old trails back to life, puts you in contact with some strange night life, as well as just being plain fun. Flying down a familiar trail in you own personal bubble of light is exhilirating and freeing at the same time. The heat might stop us, but the night never will!

I rode in on the Dreamy Draw side after a 2 mile paved ride-in to meet some friends, then we were off. We opted for a side trail entrance to T100 then 220 down around to the bottom of T100, which we took up to 1a, then back down 8 and back to the cars. From there I rode back out of the park, getting my 2 mile pavement cool-down. Almost 16 miles for myself, and 1900ft of "El", as they say. Climbing T100 twice helped a bit. Not bad for a Tuesday evening. Night snaps are hard to get, but with the tripod, I seem to get better ones, but the action shots still elude me. I'll need a slighly better camera than the Kodak point-n-shoot if I want some nice night action shots.

Taking stock after walking through Cheesegrater. The desert outside our lights is dark. Its almost like riding in the void, and you have to keep the lights in front of you, painting the terrain as they shine. Hang on! Its creation before your eyes! I'm grateful I discovered night riding. Sure gets me through the summer. 

Sitting atop VOAZ with some of Paradise Valley glowing in the distance. A tire is barely visible.

Grand overview of the ride. The climb from DD up T100, 1a then VOAZ was the highlight. About 575ft and pretty close to 1.7 miles. Got the blood going. (Map by Topofusion)

You can follow the climb here. PMP really has lots of great mountain bike opportunities and for being in the middle of the city, it is amazingly fantastic. I've yet to go down VOAZ, but I sure like it as a climb. Lots of challenge there.  (Map by Topofusion)

Total 1900 climbing and 15.6 with 4 miles of road.