Hidden

Another [W]ednesday [N]ight [R]ide, with no one in the parking lot. All the better as the solo night missions are the best way to lose yourself.

Tonight’s mission: be the first (??) to attempt a night ride of the Hidden Canyon ‘hiking’ trail. Hadn’t planned it, hadn’t thought about it, but when I finished Rock Wren, I followed my tires uphill.

Pretty soon I was dabbing and fumbling. Stopped, I pulled the lights and watched the darkness subside. Tucson was glowing orange under (ever rare) cloud cover. A weak attempt at the next ‘move’ led to another dab, followed by a snort and scrambling of hooves. My lights found a hidden Javelina, standing not 10 feet from where I had stopped before.

I continued on.

Over the pass the lights of Tucson disappeared. Turning, I leaned into a bush, without ‘seeing’ it, without acknowledging it. “That was bad – I didn’t know it wasn’t cactus.”

Or did I?

I worried a little about the upcoming trail – narrow, precipitous and lined with cactus. Was it a good idea to be riding it, alone and in the dark?

Churning sand in the wash, the answer was pretty clear. Or at least, distraction caused a silencing of doubt.

I rolled through the rock house and made my way over to Hidden Canyon. Time to climb.

I tried a little too hard and found myself able to clip out, but there was nowhere for my foot to go. My (already hurt) hand was the only thing that could save a fall. I gave up on the next couple switchbacks – but there’s great riding between.

At the top, I knew the descent would be challenging, but I hadn’t given a thought as to how it would look in the dark.

More of the trail was hidden than visible! I was stunned by the shadows cast by my light; my brain wasn’t able to make sense of it. But my tires did. Muscle memory is an amazing thing, and I responded to each situation as it presented itself.

I hit the hotel and snuck back home with plenty of weight on the pedals.

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It’s Turkey day and I sure have a lot to be thankful for. It’s pretty overwhelming, really.

As is the tradition, Paula took the win in the XC classic, besting her own course record by four seconds. Four seconds and four consecutive wins. It’s such a cool race since 1) I can ride there, 2) the women run their own race [no men], 3) a tiny bit of pedaling leads to multiple viewpoints, 4) Paula always seems to win.