For The Love Of Mountain Biking

 

I am a four-tool bicyclist -- road bicycling, mountain bicycling, commuter bicycling and Rivendell-style casual bicycling for the pure joy of biking.

Mountain biking is the one form of biking that I have increased in my life.

I live across from single-track dirt trails in the Red Rock Canyon area and pedaling my Surly Pugsley single-speed, steel-framed, shock-free twho-wheeled monster in the shadows of the Spring Mountains foothills is a source of immense inspiration from the scenery and spirituality from the mobile meditative powers.

I also have to observe mountain bikers are a different breed from road cyclists. Mountain bikers I meet on the trails are more friendly, easy-going and laid-back. Road cyclists are in a hurry and most don't say a word to you.

  

Robin Was Right: Bicycling Is All About Mobile Meditation

 

Mobile meditation. Robin Williams nailed it. So much emphasis is put on the physical energy it takes to propel a bicycle. Yet it's the meditative powers that's the secret sauce of pedaling a bicycle.

Joys Of Bicycling At Night: Cooler Temperatures (Under 100 Degrees For Las Vegas) Was Deciding Factor For This Bicyclist

Bicycle Stories note: Facebook friend and bicyclist Paula Lubbe posted a nice account of biking at night thanks to cooler temperatures (for the Las Vegas area). With her permission, here's Paula's account. 

The temps after work today were below 100F!

So I decided to take my Rising Phoenix (bike) out for an evening/night ride with lights. First night time ride on my road bike since leaving El Paso!

I had forgotten how fun and nice and beautiful night rides are in the desert!! I used to ride both road and MTB all the time at night back there.

The sun is setting here around 7:45 or so. I left just after 7.

I had a beautiful setting sun on the way to the gun range and it was dark as I was heading in and up. The temps were perfect!

And I always meet the coolest people when I’m out riding.

I was at the top of the gun range texting a friend when one of the county trucks pulled up via the jeep road and stopped. I thought I was in trouble for being in there after dark and after the front gate shut.

Nope. He saw my light and was just checking on me. They had night time shooters and he just wanted to remind me to be safe because people are stupid, his words.

His name was Dan and he’s a Navy Veteran with a deployment to Afghanistan back in ‘04 with a fascinating story of being over there with one of the Seal teams. Neat guy. We talked for several minutes.

Fun riding by the high school at night with a football game going on. Made me excited to be going home next month for my 40th HS reunion and will be going to our HS Homecoming game that weekend.

I felt safer riding at night being more visible with my lights than daylight when you blend in from a distance, even with daytime running lights.

Fun night. I was planning to swim tonight, but the ride was more fun.

Get active!

Move your body.

Hug someone you care about.

Peace and Love.

Ride On.

Let's Climb: Biking To Mountain Springs Summit At 5,490 Feet

 

It's Potosi time.

People call it Mt. Potosi.

The Web says it's Potosi Mountain.

I just call it bike-up-a-big-hill-from-my-home time, all nine miles along State Route 160 (which is Blue Diamond Road In Vegas speak).

Some people driving cars on SR 160 move over a lane to pass as required by Nevada state law. Others don't. You can size up a person real quick by seeing which ones move over a lane and which ones don't.

I wave my left arm and point to the passing (second) lane and some people do respond by changing lanes.

Others don't.

The Nevada Department of Transportation could educate drivers by installing "Change lanes to pass bicyclists" signs along SR 160.

It was terrific morning because of the terrific weather. We're already more than two months removed from the longest day of the year and my body can detect the new sun and light angles.

The day is off and rolling! 

Buy this book please

Ultimate Transportation To Stadiums: Bicycling Is Faster With Great Parking

Parking is simple for me at Allegiant Stadium, the Las Vegas Raiders venue.

I drive a car with my bike to a nearby quiet street and then park. I just take the bike out and pedal over to these bike racks near the media entrance and lock it up.

Bicycling works if you give it a chance and if you're trying to reach a high-traffic area like the roads around a stadium bicycles are more effective than cars in terms of speed and nimbleness. 

Bicycle Man Tip: Bike The Columbia River Gorge East Of Portland, Oregon

 

The Columbia River Gorge along the Interstate 84 corridor is amazing.

It's east of Portland and I visited two spots -- Maryhill where there was a peach orchard and a state park along the water and Troutdale, the gatewy to the gorge.

These were totally unplanned stops and I was following the John Steinbeck travel philosophy that you don't take a trip, the trip takes you.

  

Troutdale is outside Portland and is considered the start of the gorge corridor.

Red Rock Loop Overlook Perfect Place To Meet People From Across The Country

I always joke that the Red Rock Loop overlook corner is my "Corner Office."

But the reality is that the overlook is a great place to meet people from across the country.

It happened again this morning when a woman came over to ask about my bicycle and she said she was was from Annapolis, Maryland where she moved to from the San Francisco Bay area into her the home of her 92-year-old mom.

Raiders HQ In Henderson Is Swanky With Nice Bicycle Racks

 

The Raiders might not have had a very good record last season.

But there's one thing they;re really good at.

The NFL team has a swanky headquarters with these terrific bike racks.

I don't think owner Mark Davis is into bicycling much. It's probably the only commonality between him and the team owner of the Oakland franchise that is moving to Las Vegas -- A's owner John Fisher. Both Davis and Fisher are not into bicycling.

But man, these bike racks at the Raiders HQ are mighty sweet.   

Seattle/Port Townsend Reveals Beauty Of Bicycling

 

It's wonderful to go to cities like Seattle that embrace bicycling and depressing to return to Las Vegas, which builds a paved trail along highways and not much more.

The best observation about Las Vegas is that it's a city that needs to grow up, provide a network of transportation options, launch a campaign to attract health care workers and focus on serving locals not just the casinos.

I spent a week on the road, including four days in Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula and the bustling Emerald City of Seattle.

Port Townsend has an outrageous trail, the Larry Scott Memorial Trail that extends from a boatyard in Port Townsend for a little more than seven miles to outside Port Townsend near county road 20.

Look at the Larry Scott Memorial Trail. What a stunning bicycle experience. Its cuts a swath through woods with a ground surface so hard-packed that it accommodated by road bicycle's narrow tires. I also loved the tunnel of the former railroad easement.

Over in Seattle some two hours away, I checked out the Washington Lake Boulevard road closure that banned vehicular traffic but gave the green light for bicyclists, walkers, joggers, roller-bladers and anyone without a car a gorgeous road without cars.

  

Then it was off to downtown Seattle and the SoDo area where the MLB Mariners and NFL Seahawks stadiums are located.

The Mariners ballpark offered terrific secured parking, with bike racks inside a cage in the parking garage near the security station at the entrance across the street from the stadium.

    

I wrapped up my thoughts in this video.

Mercer Island was also gorgeous.

Bicycling 50 From Red Rock To The Strip And Back

 

Here's the beauty of bicycling.

You're moving and getting places and all the while you're seeing everything around you in an up-close, personal way.

It's the physical and the mental working in beautiful harmony.

I laugh at people who make fun of bicyclists. Those people are losers.

I did my 50-mile The Big Rectangle bike ride -- my country and town journey from Red Rock to Strip and back -- and it was wonderful to explore and see life while also enjoying mobility.

I learn so much.

For example, how did the city of Las Vegas allow this monster-sized utility pole in the middle of a sidewalk on Industrial Road?    

Check out this utility pole on the Las Vegas sidewalk.

I also was biking on Alta Boulevard to Summerlin and Red Rock Canyon when I saw these cones on a Sunday morning where no workers were present.

 

And earlier in the ride I laughed at the Raiders NFL stadium when I saw this branded golf shirt obviousy left by a former worker who said, "Yeah, I'm not working here anymore."

Ride a bike and you will see the world in a much more rich way.   

Bike rack or decorative barrier at Bellagio

During my Sunday 50-mile morning Red Rock/Strip/Downtown/Alta/Summerlin ride, I pedaled the Strip corridor by taking Frank Sinatra Drive behind the hotel-casinos.

I was biking behind the Bellagio approaching the Flamingo Road overpass when I looked to my right and saw where bicyclists lock up their bikes at the hotel-casino property.

I chatted with this fella who was leaving on the Pedago e-bike and he believed it was barriers that double as a bicycle lockup area behind the Bellagio.

Either way, just another example of how shabbily the hotels treat bicyclists who arrive at their places by two wheels.

Such a shame that hotels fail to offer bike parking under a cover and with proper bike locking equipment. 

Bicycling From Red Rock To The Strip And Back To Red Rock

From late July 

The Strip was serene at 7:15 AM on the final Saturday morning in July and surprisingly cool. I bicycled down to the Strip from my Red Rock Canyon area home for a 53-mile two-wheeled circuit that would feature stops at Las Vegas' Holy Trinity of sports palaces -- Raiders' Allegiant Stadium (2020), A's stadium (scheduled 2028 opening) and Golden Knights' T-Mobile Arena (2016).

These palatial sports playgrounds drove Las Vegas to becoming a sports mecca, along with its sports-friendly elected county officials who have prioritized sports growth over local amenities/services and a sports-spending public tourism agency called the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority (LVCVA).

I left my home shortly after 6AM because traffic is light and I don't have to battle car drivers who control roads that are not very hospitable to people on bicycles. About an hour into the bike ride at Mile 16, I stopped at Allegiant Stadium, which is managed by the Raiders. Under this arrangement, Raiders owner Mark Davis can generate hundreds of millions of dollars from non-Raiders events throughout the year.

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Biking west on Alta means ascending both elevation and economic classes, moving literally upward from downtown Las Vegas through economic layers until you reach Summerlin, where the roads are wider and engineered in a more friendly manner for bicyclists.

I biked over to Charleston Blvd/State Route 159 for the bike ride through Red Rock Canyon, where a consortium of government agencies finally launched a bike trail construction project from Summerlin to the Red Rock National Conservation Area and the Red Rock Scenic Drive entrance.

The groundbreaking for the Red Rock Legacy Trail was July 1 thanks to the support of Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones, Congresswoman Susie Lee, the Bureau of Land Management, the Nevada Department of Transportation and the federal agency that funds paved trails through federal lands.

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Bicycling In The Shadows On The Way To Red Rock Loop Entrance

It's about mid-August and the light and shadows tell the time. It's about 6:30 AM around now.

The shadows cast by the Red Rock Canyon sloping landscape keeps State Route 159 a comfortable ride as we start another triple-digit temperature day in Las Vegas in mid-August.

Once on the Red Rock Loop, I always check in with what I call the "notch" along the calico ridge around Miles 2 on the 13-mile Red Rock scenice drive.

On the way over to the entrance here's a little of the scenery.

Enjoy the day.