So after Steelhead, we had planned a quick getaway to Las Vegas. I’ve been to Las Vegas many times, but I’ve never really ventured off the strip very much. Over to the Hard Rock once, down to the Stratosphere once, but I’ve really spent most of my time up and down the “main” strip. This time, however, I was given a tip about doing a bike ride to Red Rock Canyon.
It was the night before Steelhead and Chuck mentioned it at dinner. I grabbed my phone and ran out of the restaurant to call my brother. He was leaving for Vegas the next day and I wanted to be sure he packed his bike stuff. It must’ve been 7pm and he was getting on a 6:30am flight the next day. I was lucky enough to get a hold of him, he said it sounded great, he’d pack his stuff.
We called to make reservations the day we got to Vegas. It was me and 3 guys over 6’3″ and they sounded a little concerned that they weren’t going to have 3 bikes large enough! I also asked that they put on an extra water bottle cage. Vegas was pretty hot and we didn’t bring camelbacks or anything to carry fluids. The woman on the phone told me that we should not be drinking alcohol today or tonight (we were already several rounds in at Harrah’s Carnival Court when I made the reservation). We were to meet at the Mirage at 8am.
I came back and announced to the group that we were booked. We celebrated by ordering another round of alcoholic beverages. I was concerned about everyone going out that night and trying to get up on time.
Rob, the guy from the bike store, picked us up and drove us out to the start of the ride. We put on my pedals I had brought from home (thanks to a tip from Chuck), made some small adjustments to everyone’s bike for fit and we were off! This was an unguided ride, meaning it was just us. We got dropped off and we were free to do our own thing at our own pace. I was assured we wouldn’t get lost and I hoped Rob was right!
I had to make a quick pit stop before we got started so we rode up to the visitor’s center. And I do mean up! The center wasn’t more than maybe 1000 yards away, but I was already breathing heavy before I got there! I went to the Women’s restroom….locked. Uh oh. Not exactly any forest or bushes out there that you can do your business and be unseen (not that I’d do that anyway) and for a second I thought I’d have to do the whole ride with a bladder that was about to explode. Thankfully, the one of the other guys had to go, so we rode over to another building and found some open restrooms. Whew. That would have been a very uncomfortable ride!
Everyone was fresh and ready to go, albeit a little hung over and I’d say a little dehydrated. Up, up, up the road went. By the time we reached the mile point, I was already wondering if this was going to be fun for everyone, particularly the Saint.
This was more difficult than I thought. We stopped at the first few “scenic points” so I could take some pictures and we could catch our breath and recoup. It was beautiful. And so very, very quiet. There was the occassional car with tourists inside, but this was a very desolate area. We joked about how there were probably bodies buried out here in the desert, a la “Casino”. 
We continued to go uphill for the next, I don’t know 8-9 miles? Sweat was pouring off all our faces and we wondered why we were doing this to ourselves. I kept reminding everyone to drink. Although it was hot out there, the humidity was rather low so it didn’t make you very thirsty. The bottles of water they gave us were also warm, which was a bit of a bummer.
Finally, we were at the highest point, though none of us knew it yet. We only knew it when we stopped for a quick break to drink, then headed back on to the road. We started flying down the road at high speeds, high enough to make me feather the brakes a bit to slow down. There was some gravel on some of the turns. Everyone had smiles on their faces when we reached the road that would dump us back into town. We stopped again for a quick regroup, drink of water, laughed and talked about how fun the downhill was, then we were on our way home.
The next stretch was on some newly paved asphalt. It was a great, smooth ride, although now we were riding next to traffic. There was sufficient shoulder to make it rather safe. This section seemed mostly flat, with a few gradual uphills going over a bridge (I think). But the heartrates remained low and as we rode back into town, it was all downhill. In fact, I don’t remember ever riding so long where I didn’t have to take a pedal stroke. I only needed to pedal a few strokes to get started after we had to stop at traffic lights. Oh, and this street had a bike lane almost all the way down. As soon as the bike lane disappeared, we jumped on the sidewalks. I didn’t think it would be very safe to ride on that road without a bike lane and we were pretty close to being back at the bike store.
Everyone had a great time. For me, it was the highlight of the trip. If I could have changed anything, I would’ve made the ride longer. I also think I’d prepare my riding partners that the first half of the ride is TOUGH. Very tough! But it’s worth it. We got back to the hotel, cleaned up and met again back at Harrah’s Carnival Court to celebrate with a few cocktails!
