First Day Of Autumn Was Spectacular Bicycling In Red Rock Canyon (Except For The Garbage Along The Road)

 

It's Tuesday morning and the weather forecast is splendid to ride a bicycle in Red Rock Canyon.

It's around 6:30 AM and I'm listening to Shawn Tempesta, the radio host who took over for Chet Buchanan at 98.5 FM in the morning here in Las Vegas. I'm friends with Shawn on social media, but was happy to meet him in person at a 98.5 FM remote site in front of an Albertsons in Summerlin Saturday.

Shawn is really good and keeps up with local events and politics. 

During Shawn's radio show the traffic guy gets his turn to quickly list the traffic jams and hot spots and I laughed when the traffic dude said watch out for Koval Lane because lanes were closed to install the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix race track a whole TWO MONTHS before the two-hour race happens on the Saturday night before Thanksgiving. That's Las Vegas for you. There's already a closed lane at the Bellagio for suite construction. Thank you LVSportsBiz.com photographer Hugh Byrne for getting these photos this week.

The big fish of the Strip -- the big hotels along the F1 race route -- have to be fed tourists and it's locals and Strip corridor workers who suffer from the traffic jams and disruptions. The Vegas tourism board and its consultant keep on telling us the race and big sports events bring in billions of dollars and I just wonder of that's actually true if Las Vegas ranks at the bottom for public schools, health care, mass transit and road safety with a stunning 429 Clark County School District students struck by drivers while they walk/bike to and from schools.

Speaking of avoiding being hit by motorists, I'm bicycling from my home to the Red Rock Loop entrance, which is about ten miles away. The gypsum mine and factory 18-wheelers and their trailers are rumbling along state route 159, which has a shoulder I use to hopefully reach the Red Rock drive entrance without being killed.

I'm in a pick up garbage mood because I see plastic bags, so I stop to pick up cans and bottles along the way and fill the plastic bags.  Here's a video look.

As I bike on the shoulder, there's a combo of gravel and small rocks; scattered leftover motorcycle crash debris; and makeshift memorials marked by teddy bears and crosses along the SR 159 corridor. I attended Nevada Department of Transportation meetings in nearby Blue Diamond a few years ago to offer comments on making this road safer but I have never seen any improvements and the 19-mile Red Rock Legacy Trail that began construction has a grand total of .99 of a mile built so far from the Summerlin side.

As the massive gypsum trailer trucks rumble by I hold my breath and wonder why Clark County, the state DOT, the BLM and other Feds have not built that Red Rock trail. It could potentially save my life.

Oh well, there's always money around to build stadiums in this town.  In fact, the Raiders just got another $75 million to help build a plaza entranceway on the stadium's north side. Man, if Las Vegas only committed its energy and resources to building safe roads for ALL USERS like bicyclists and walkers like it did for the sports team owners, event promoters and stadiums Las Vegas would be a very cool and much safer place to live. The Raiders, valued at $10 billion, is getting $825 million worth of public assistance to build their stadium where owner Mark Davis gets most of the revenues. Not a single elected official has the backbone to utter a single word about that.

But the bike ride is nice once I get past the gypsum mine entrance and the old Bobbie Ranch and the views of the iron-rich red rock ridge always beings a smile when the weather is this nice. Video from the state route 159 overlook

I make it to the Red Rock toll booth where I see workers Brandon and Dee (Deelorius) and they're always in a chipper mood. I learn from Brandon that he is from Bentonville, Arkansas, the new home of bigtime mountain biking thanks to the bike-loving ways of the Wal-Mart owning Walton mega-rich family. Brandon shows me his amazing VW van that he saved from a piece of junk he found in the woods. He showed me a photo of the original piece of junk and I have to say it was a fantastic makeover because his VW van looks fabulous now.

It's disappointing to see the occasional beer can and water bottle along my beloved Red Rock Loop.

It was mostly quiet and I pedal long stretches uninterrupted by car drivers. It's a treat to soak up the lovely weather amid this wonderful landscape. It's such a mood lifter.

On the way home on SR 159, there's less garbage along the road. The speed limit is 50 mph but the car and truck drivers routinely go faster. It's Las Vegas. Things are just a little more loosey-goosey here and the bar for behavior, standards and expectations are just lower in Vegas.

Keep on bicycling and be grateful every time you return home without being hit by a motorist around here.

Can Anyone Spare Some Handlebar Tape?

 

I know. I know.

I could use new handlebar tape.

But the view always looks new on the Red Rock Loop.

Las Vegas, Invest In Bicycling Like Other Real Big League Cities

 

The Raiders NFL stadium is an enormous building and yet I arrive at the domed stadium with a simple technique -- I drive most of the way in my car with my bicycle inside, park on  quiet side street west of the stadium, remove the bike from the car and pedal about five minutes to a bike rack near the media entrance.

Las Vegas is a strange place.

It uses gimmicky tactics like hiring Elon Musk to bore tunnels around Las Vegas for Teslas to transport a person when all you to do is install a bike rack in good places and people wll bike on over.

Here's my 1980s-era Raleigh rod bike at Allegiant Stadium Thursday for the Raiders-Cardinals exhibition game.

Previous years I even locked up the Surly Pugsley!

 

Sunrise Bicycle Ride In Jungleland; Playing Springsteen's Epic Song In My Head As I Bike Red Rock Canyon

 

Before this morning's 6AM bicycle ride I watched a video of Clarence Clemons' nephew, Jake, play the saxophone solo in Jungleland, one of Bruce Springsteen's most amazing songs. Clarence died in 2011 and Jake took over for the "Big Man" in 2012 in the Wrecking Ball Tour. The video showed Jake's debut and his Jungleland solo was beautiful. He would have made Uncle Clarence proud.

The song was playing on an endless loop in my helmeted head as I bicycled along State Route 159 to the Red Rock Scenic Drive as part of my 32-mile morning trek.

I love Sunday mornings because it's the sole day of the week when the gigantic gypsum trucks are grounded and there's no rumbling trailer trucks buzzing me along SR 159. It was beautiful to see the gypsum mine entrance closed today. No trucks! Yeah!

I don't bike very fast and that works out well because it give me more time to enjoy the light illuminating the Red Rock ridge and the shadows along SR 159.

Most of the land along SR 159 is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, but there are small notches of private land like the old Bonnie Springs Ranch which was a tourist draw for its old 1880s era mining town shtick complete with gunfights and  petting zoo. It was sold to a residential developer who plan to build big homes on the site.

The Bonnie Springs sign is gone -- and that was news to me.

There are a mix of crotch rocket youngins flying on motorcycles, road cyclists who are not the most friendly folks and drivers motoring along in high-off-the-ground pickup trucks. 

I'm always saying hi to the cyclists with a "Hey now" greeting and most do not engage. There were also two runners jogging on the shoulder and runners typically say hi.

The Jnngleland song is playing over and over in my head, with the Clarence/Jake Clemons solo especially in focus in my mind.

On the Red Rock Loop Congresswoman Susie Lee comes bicycling by. She's very fit and a very strong bicyclists both on road bikes and mountain bikes. I gave her my Bicycle Man book and she recalled that as she zipped on by with a few words. She's running against a Republican fella who is a piano player.

I head on home and reach the homestead at 9 AM.

It was a lovely bike ride,

DEF CON Convention Bicyclists Pedal Red Rock Canyon And State Route 159 Outside Summerlin

 

It's Friday morning and I'm biking a 34-mile ride that includes the State Route 159 stretch from Summerlin through Red Rock Canyon outside Las Vegas.

It's a rare road ride for me. I just don't ride my bicycle around Las Vegas too much anymore because the roads here in Las Vegas/Clark County are designed for cars and not for bicyclists and walkers and way too dangerous for my taste. I find a motorist nearly hits me every time I ride for more than 30 miles around Clark County and Las Vegas.. 

Only a few months ago, Clark County had a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the Red Rock Legacy Trail, a paved trail that is supposed to run from Summerlin along the State Route 159 corridor through Red Rock Canyon to State Route 160 (Blue Diamond Road). Sounds like a great idea after 20 years of planning and talking. A 20-mile trail along the busy and also dangerous SR 159 is vitally needed.

But the first phase that was celebrated a few months ago is a mere .99 of a mile and it was sad and disappointing to see a group of bicyclists ignore the new trail to stay on the road while I was bicycling Friday morning. It was a group of DEF CON convention bicyclists. For the record, I do bike on the trail and then walk my bike back to State Route 159.

This .99 of  mile trail also dead ends and there's no temporary trail of 30 feet or so to hook back into SR 159. That's Clark County and Las Vegas for you. It's a minor point. But the bar of design and bicycle amenities are just so low here in Vegas.

The DEF CON bicyclists were having a good time following SR 159 to the Red Rock overlook parking lot that's situated before the Red Rock loop exit on 159.

Tip of the helmet to Bruce, who once bicycled from Virginia to Las Vegas to attend the DEF CON event.in a previous year and organized the DEF CON bicyclist ride.

 

Hopefully the Red Rock Legacy Trail will be extended beyond the ,99 of a mile. Work is supposed to continue o extending the trail in 2027. So we shall see. Bicyclists are not exactly a high priority in the Las Vegas area.

Love Lovell Canyon On Extreme Heat Warning Days In Las Vegas

 

Lovell Canyon is a mere ten minutes away.

But the cooler temperature off State Route 160 outside Mountain Springs meant all the difference that made a road ride a great late-day bicycling experience.

The U.S. Forest road is technically paved, but it is in a choppy, bumpy condition.

There are hardly any drivers and cars, however, so it's a great bicycle time without the motorists.

It's the cool foothills sanctuary of the Spring Mountains and there are dirt primal camp sites.

There are signs posted that say there are 14-day maximum stays and no "residential" stays that last more than two weeks.

Nearly five miles off SR 160 the US Forest road goes downhill bigtime after the stretch of gradual climbing.

There's another four miles of climbing before the paved road ends.

The road turns left and become a dirt surface with more camp sites and a hiking trail network.

Keep rolling, my friends.

We have a protected bicycle lane sighting in Clark County (Las Vegas is still trying to build its first)

 

Finally, a protected bicycle lane in Clark County and Las Vegas.

The Vegas area is way behind the rest of the country when it comes to bicycle trails, protected lanes and bike infrastructure.

But great to see Clark County finally building a protected bike lane along Starr Avenue from Las Vegas Boulevard to Bermuda Road. It's only about two miles or so but you have to start somewhere.

Clark County, thanks to county commissioners Muchael Naft and Justin Jones, is building legit bicycle infrastructure after years of neglect. The protected bike lanes are in Naft's district, while Jones worked to get great bike lanes on Fort Apache Road in the southwest valley and a bike tunnel under Charleston Blvd. along the 215 bike trail.

The city of Las Vegas needs a bicycle champion on its city council. But no council members have stepped up to build bike infrastructure and as a result the city is at the 28th percentile out of more than 2,000 cities for its dismal bicycle network. The city mayor is clueless about bicycling and never talks about road safety. Sad situation.