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Mountain bike night series begins this weekend

Posted 5/7/15

Saturday, May 9, is the first scheduled Mountain Bike by the Moon Light ride for the 2015 season.

This summer will mark the 13th year that McDowell Mountain Regional Park has organized a series of …

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Mountain bike night series begins this weekend

Posted

Saturday, May 9, is the first scheduled Mountain Bike by the Moon Light ride for the 2015 season.

This summer will mark the 13th year that McDowell Mountain Regional Park has organized a series of summer night rides for mountain bikers seeking relief from the blistering summer sun.

In the spring of 2003 local mountain bikers approached the park’s management and asked if they could be given permission to ride the park’s trails at night after the normal closing hours.

The proposal initially was not well received. Permission to ride at night after the trails were closed not only seemed to be dangerous but would require that a staff member would stay and ensure that everyone was done.

Clearly, mountain biking is a sport in which participants can and do get hurt in the best of conditions; riding at mid-day on maintained trails accidents happen, riders fall and injure themselves and damage their bikes.

Why anyone would suggest negotiating those same rocky, narrow trails at night was a concept that any good land manager would put the kibosh to immediately.

The mountain bikers were persistent and conversations continued into the summer months.

The mountain bikers told Rand Hubbell and Interpretive Ranger Paul (Crash) Marusich at the time that they were already riding two nights a week on trails around the Valley.

They were riding without permission on closed trails that were shorter and rougher than those at McDowell.

“The smooth trails at McDowell,” they said, would be perfect for night rides.

As the summer months approached more and more riders came forward and talked to Rand and Crash about the new technology of lights made especially for mountain biking and their record of safety at other venues.

The argument was eventually made to give it a try, so Rand and Crash prepared a safety plan and proposed to the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department that they be given permission to hold two trial rides in August of 2003.

The safety plan said absolutely everyone must sign-in when they arrive and sign-out when they returned at the end of the night; and of course EMTs would be standing by for the inevitable call reporting an injured biker.

The riders are still signing-in when they arrive and signing out when they return, but EMTs are no longer standing by.

One injury in the past 12 years of growing popularity of the night rides has eliminated the need for medical providers to stand by.

The two ride format in August of 2003 grew to four rides the next year, then five rides in 2005.

Mountain Bike by the Moon Light was held once a month on or near the full moon for several years.

Due to the growing interest the nine-ride schedule now begins in May and continues into September.

The increased frequency of rides is made possible by the evolving technology of small, powerful lights with 1,000 to 2,000 lumens of light that now allow riders to ride with or without moon light.

In recent years the lights weigh less, are always getting smaller and brighter -- sometimes brighter than headlights on an automobile.

With one light mounted to the handlebars and a second light on their helmet, riders can see the trail and wherever they turn their heads to see into the night.

The summer night ride series scheduled by McDowell Mountain Regional Park is the only known night ride series organized by a land manager in the U.S., and by all accounts it is the largest night ride series.

Last year the participation at each ride jumped from an average of 100 riders to more than 140 riders per ride.

Mountain Bike by the Moon Light won the Arizona Parks and Recreation Association’s Award for Sports Programming, the National Parks and Recreation Association’s Award for Innovative Sports Programming and the National Association of County’s NACo Award for Innovative and Responsive Sports Programming.

The popularity is in part due to the support of the Fountain Hills Bike Shop, which has been cooking and giving away food to the participants for the past five years.

Riders returning from their journey into the night find food awaiting them ranging from pulled pork to roasted corn on the cob along with a mountain bike themed movie -- all provided at no cost by the bike shop.

In recent years the riders have commented on the sense of community that now permeates these rides.

Only local riders are here in June, July and August, so the discussions focus on new trails around the Valley or who is driving to Flagstaff or other cool climates and has room for another rider and their bike.

The schedule for the 2015 season includes nine rides, all on Saturday nights beginning at 7:30 p.m. on May 9 and 23, June 6 and 20, July 11 and 25, Aug. 8 and 22 and Sept. 19.

Riders must have a helmet and a light system designed for mountain biking with a battery power for three hours of riding.

No riders are allowed to begin their ride after 8 p.m. The park entry fee is $6 per vehicle if you don’t have an annual pass, but there is no cost to participate in the night ride.