It’s that time of year. It is getting too hot to ride any time except early in the morning or at night. Since, I’m not a morning person, I’ll be doing a lot of night riding. So, I charged up the helmet light and headed to South Mountain to ride the Desert Classic trail with Ramon. Since, I am training for the upcoming Barn Burner, I wanted to get some miles in with some climbing.. Our route was the standard Desert Classic ride, except a detour up to the helipad. I forgot how long and steep that climb was. Once you get in the climbing groove, it isn’t so bad, I guess. My favorite part is the downhill back to Desert Classic trail. At Desert Classic, we turned west and rode to Telegraph Pass Trail. I love the downhill on the way to Telegraph Pass, but fret the climb back out. I was feeling strong, so the climb wasn’t bad at all. We followed Desert Classic back to the Secret Trail that leads back to Desert Classic again. Then took a detour on the south loop (not sure of the real name) back to Desert Classic again and then back to the Pima Canyon parking lot. In summary, it was a great night ride. I climbed 1727 feet in 19 miles and felt great.