Every Tuesday night, a very different side of Tucson’s cycling community rolls out from the University of Arizona Mall, just west of Old Main.

The Tuesday Night Ride is part slow roll, part rolling street party, and part organized chaos. There are no pace groups, no matching kits, and not much in the way of rules. All bikes and all riders are welcome. The group winds through Tucson’s urban core after dark, taking over streets and making stops at parks along the way, where riders hang out, socialize, and imbibe before rolling on to the next destination.

For someone who has never experienced Tucson by bicycle at night, it can be one of the coolest rides in town. Riding through downtown, Fourth Avenue, university neighborhoods, and city streets with a large group gives you an entirely different perspective on Tucson. Lights flash, music plays, conversations happen from bike to bike, and the city becomes the playground.

A word of warning: this ride can get a little wild.

What was once primarily a bicycle ride has evolved. Along with cruisers, fixies, mountain bikes, BMX bikes, commuters, tandems, and just about anything else with pedals, it is increasingly common to see high-powered electric bikes and machines that are closer to electric motorcycles. Wheelies, weaving through the pack, questionable traffic decisions, and other unpredictable behavior are part of the scene. Riders should pay attention, use lights, keep their heads up, and understand that this isn’t a traditional organized group ride with ride leaders controlling the pace or enforcing cycling etiquette.

That unpredictability is both part of its personality and the reason newcomers should approach it with some caution.

Still, there is something uniquely Tucson about hundreds of wheels rolling through the city on a Tuesday night. It’s diverse, unconventional, occasionally reckless, social, and a little weird. If you want a perfectly controlled group ride, this probably isn’t it.

If you want to experience Tucson’s urban core after dark with a big, eclectic group of people on wheels, the Tuesday Night Ride is an experience worth having at least once.

Oh, and the ride is canceled! That’s the running joke if anyone asks about it, but rain or shine, hot and cold, someone is always there.