Riders of the Night.
Riders of the Night.

Phoenix, Arizona saw a brutally hot summer in 2023. They saw a daily average temperature of 97 degrees Fahrenheit for all of June, July and August, with 55 days of highs at or above 110 degrees. In response, the city placed mandates on trail use, preventing people from being outside during the hottest times of the day.

But mountain bikers are tenacious, and they’ll find a way to get out on the trails. So rather than sitting around all summer, they got out on the trails in the evenings, when the heat would be less deadly.

In the face of record heat, one city’s mountain bikers go fully nocturnal. The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record for Phoenix, Arizona, with a daily average temperature of 97 degrees Fahrenheit for all of June, July and August and a total of 55 days with highs of at least 110 degrees. In such conditions, getting out on the trails isn’t just uncomfortable; it can be downright deadly. Mountain bikers, however, tend to be a foolishly tenacious crowd. Faced with such searing conditions, many local riders have taken a cue from the wildlife and gone fully nocturnal to escape the heat.

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