Riding under lights

I’m doing this craziness we call 24Hr racing now…ok, I’m signed up for one…so it’s the time of the season where I begin to hone my night riding skills. That, and it’s just plain good times. So with that, I’m calling a weekly Friday Night Lights Ride. Anyone in the Tucson area can meet us at 5:30pm at the north entrance to Fantasy Island for some ripping around on undulating single track, narrowly dodging the saguaro and prickly pear, the trail illuminated only by our helmet lights and whatever beams reflect off our glowing smiles.

Last week was night 1. Here’s the story of that fateful night:

- While adjusting my helmet-mounted light I accidentally hit the "ON" button in "Brighter than sun" mode. I should regain vision in left eyeball in March.

- I love my Light & Motion Seca 700. It’s a great light—the best I’ve ridden by far—and supposed to be very good for reliability. I bought an extra battery so I’ll have a complete night of LED illumination. Check out their beam pattern—very cool. Get yours at Trisports (and use code BGRAS-S for over $50 off!)

- Later, Kyle and I were cruising when the trail came to a split. I went right; he went left; we sprinted for the confluence at a left 180 degree turn. At the rejoin, with brakes locked up and dust flying, we both, rather late mind you, saw broadside in the trail a very large, very dark, very horn-ed cow and her calf. Kyle screamed like a 10 yr old school girl on a field trip to an arachnid farm, while I, barreling into Kyle's unmetered braking, saw my life and images of an again splintered left leg flash before my eyes. I literally fell off my bike in hysterics. I stopped laughing about 2 hours ago.

- Fantasy Island is great at night. The trail “decorations” are wonderful, and there’s just the right amount of obstacles to keep things interesting. The new Fire Loop is great: Field Goal is a great little section, where you feel like you’re being punted through the uprights; Elbow Slammer is just that; and The Drop has so many reflectors it makes you think you’re on a very steep approach to land an aircraft on a runway (my favorite!).

Twisting, turning, climbing, and descending, all under the glow of 700 lumens of LED and a big ‘ol smile. Good times.

Single Speed

For years my race bike from college has been hanging in the garage. I didn’t want to sell it—it’s a limited edition ’96 Schwinn Homegrown with the Control Tech rear triangle—but the parts had worn out and I was riding for other manufacturers. So I decided it was time to build it into a single speed for training.

Thanks to Stan www.notubes.com and DeeJay and the boys at Arizona Cyclist for the advice and for building me up a sweet set of wheels—ENO hubs, Stan’s tubeless hoops, and beautiful work. Add to that some parts I had in the garage including the original White Industries crankset and bottom bracket and a Rock Shox Duke that was hanging for about 5 years. I took a set of Michelin XCR Dry2s I had hanging around, some Crank Brothers pedals, and a Fizik saddle. Oh, and the brakes from ’96 are on their last legs…new ones are on order. A new fork would be good, but it’s a beater.

I took it out this week to cruise on Fantasy Island. I’ve never ridden a single speed, and constantly found my thumb reaching for the shifters, but I had a blast. It was fun to cruise on a lightweight bike, not having to worry about shifting. Just ride. That’s what it’s all about. Sweet.