Hat Trick Of Cycling -- Red Rock Loop; Mt. Charleston Fattie; Downtown Urban Cruising

My bicycle pal Kevin Cannon missed the early 6 a.m. road ride in Red Rock Canyon and the scenic drive. I had a lovely road ride with my roadie friend Scott. We pedaled the Red Rock loop and chatted ourselves up the hill to 4,771 feet -- the high point along the Red Rock scenic drive. Kevin didn't get up in time, though he did do some road cycling later in the morning.

But Kevin did come on strong for a mountain bike ride on the Bristlecone Trail on Mt Charleston at 4:30 p.m. and then an urban ride through the urban freak show of downtown Las Vegas.

There's Kevin with my fattie, a Surley Pugsley single-speed, steel-framed, shock-less beast that I muscled up several hundred feet on the Bristlecone, I'm guessing that we were biking around 8,300 feet -- not too shabby when you consider the Las Vegas valley is around 2,100 feet or so.

 

The Bristlecone Trail loop is about 6.5 miles, with the first 3.5 miles all uphill from the lower Bristlecone parking lot. Above, Kevin is cycling up the wide fire road, while Kevin is descending on a single track in the photo below.

When it's 110 in the valley, it's a pleasant 80 at 8,500 feet on Mount Chraleston.

The Pugsley, then, was off for an urban trek. I met Kevin at 8:10 p.m. at the Review-Journal parking lot and little did we know what awaited -- a homeless guy with a Winnebago on his bicycle, a stop at a quasi-art fundraiser outside with five other people and a bunch of blinking bicyclists in downtown.

An arts woman wanted us to pay $15 each for a "cover" charge to watch a guy sing "Over The Rainbow."

We passed, and pedaled off to Hop Nuts for a beer. I parked the Pugsley inside.

An RJ reporter, Ricky, came over on his bicycle to Hop Nuts and we headed over to the boys at Banger Brewing on the Fremont Street Experience.