Just a quick story about my nightride on September 15.  Sounds like I make this stuff up, but I swear it's all true.  Anyway, the temps in AZ turned suddenly hot again the past few days, plus humidity.  Ugly.  A night ride was the only option and even that would be a bitch - but the allure of a SS + lights is just too much to say no to.  There is a local bike shop that runs Tuesday night rides.  I have gone a few times with them in the past and it was pretty good fun.  They get anywhere from 5-10 riders with lights.  The times I went I was the slowest one - but who cares.  

So I show up at the bike shop parking lot and nobody is there.  Not a soul.  Probably the ride was cancelled for some reason or moved to another night that I was not aware of.  But I was already 80% of the way to the trailhead so figured I would just ride alone.  I've done plenty of night rides alone and it's no problem.  The trail is never far from civilization anyway.

I rode the South Mountain trail from the south west end, which is a semi rugged trail, but not at all bad for singlespeeds.  A few dips and climbs, but not too tough - I can clean it all.  Plan was to ride about 4 miles in (to a natural mesa resting spot) and then turn around and come back.  Paul and John will know exactly where I mean.  So I started riding and didn't see a single person - just total solitude.  My mind was really dreaming away (maybe I was in "the zone", although a slow one).  Luckily I was NOT thinking about work, stock market, terrorists, etc.  For some reason I found myself dreaming about last Feb.  24 hr race in Tucson.  I guess I am already looking forward to the next one. Also of course riding at night you are just in a halo of light, kind of like your own little world.  Soon I reached the rest/turn-around spot and stopped to catch a breather.  With lights off, it was absolutely stunning.  Complete silence, except for some chirping crickets.  I

thought I heard a coyote howling, but I'm sure it was just somebody's cocker spaniel in the near by housing developments.  There was no moon, but a crystal clear sky filled with hundreds of stars.  Just beautiful.  The strangest thing was seeing a few planes cross the sky.  Somehow given everything that's gone on in the world, they seemed sadly out of place.

Soon my solitude was broken as two guys with lights approached from the east.  I turned my lights on so they would not be "spooked" to see me. They stopped to rest and we exchanged the usual comments.  They both turned their handlebars to focus their lights on my gearless steed.  I could not really see their faces too well, but something told me that they thought my SS was a joke or something.  Anyway, since they were heading in the same direction as me, I asked if I could tag along.  The one guy answered something like "yeah, whatever".  Hey, I wasn't asking for a date or anything, I just wanted to ride with them.  So we take off with me in the rear.  These two were pretty average ability riders, much like myself.  We hit the first climb, which really isn't all that much of a climb, and for some reason they stopped at the top.  I torqued my way up about 5 seconds behind them.  The one guy makes a snide remark looking at me.

Rider: "You still here?"
Me: "Yup"

So they take off down the trail with me again on the tail.  We were not really hammering, but at the same time I was a little juiced up and determined not to get dropped.  About a mile along we hit another mild climb.  Same thing, for some reason they stopped at the top.  Maybe hoping to see me have to dismount and walk?  Not a chance.  I crested it 5 seconds behind them and now it was the other guys turn to be a wise-cracker.

Rider:  "Gee, that must be easier than it looks"
Me:  "Well, you only get out what you put in"

I think they were both pissed at this point, because they took right off and picked up the pace a bit.  It was pretty flat from here to the trailhead and quite frankly, I couldn't keep up.  Even singlespeeds have their limits (yeah - blame it on the bike, not the rider).  I pulled to the trailhead about 20 seconds behind them.  Wasn't sure what kind of crap I would have to endure at this point.  I had a slight twinge of fear - after all this IS Arizona and people DO carry guns.  Then again, if they DID want to kill me (or just kick my ass), they would have done it out on the deserted trail.  I thought about blowing right by them and heading back to the truck, but as I got closer I rationalized that they looked harmless enough.  As I rolled to a stop, Rider 1 started to speak.  I'm thinking "here it comes..."  But he shocked the hell out of me with his friendly and upbeat comment.

Rider:  "Man, SS looks like fun.  Where can I buy one of those things?"

From that very moment it's like we were best friends and talked for about 10 minutes about SS conversions, singleators, gear ratios, etc. Amazing how quick the mood between us changed.  The second guy was pretty quiet, but as we were about to finally ride off or separate ways he says, "Hope to ride with you again - and God Bless America".  Now THAT was really cool.

Dave  (September 2001)