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.

Lovell Canyon: The Local, Cool Option During Vegas High Temps

Only 15 minutes down State Route 160 from my high desert home is Lovell Canyon Road, the doorway to cooler temps during a sweltering Las Vegas August day.

The elevation gain goes from about 4,800 feet to 5,900 feet as the U.S. Forest Service Road slowly cuts a swath between open fields and evergreens.

Yes, this is Vegas, too.

It was fun to bike with Jared and Heather Fishr, the first couple of bicycling in Las Vegas.

The morning began with a stunning sunrise. Take a look:

How the day ended.

Las Vegas' best attraction -- Red Rock by bicycle

The Red Rock Loop outside Las Vegas is a fabulous attraction.

In fact, the Red Rock National Conservation Area attracts 3.5 million people a year, a stunning number when you consider how few public resources are poured into this natural resource.

I call this my "corner office" at the overlook on the 13-mile Red Rock Scenic Drive. I have met many a person here at elevation 4,763. The curve in the road about 100 yards down the road is at 4,771 feet.

That's bicyclist Susie Lee, who also happens to work in Congress -- as a representative.

Rolling at sunrise

This is sunrise on a 53-mile bike ride from the homestead in the Red Rock high desert to the Strip and downtown Las Vegas and then nack home through Summerlin.

The Pug is a desert force

Let me re-introduce the Pug -- the amazing Surly Pugsley.

Last light on the high desert outside Vegas.