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.

Speak Out and Speak Up If You Want Local Government To Improve Bicycle Safety In Las Vegas

 

There are not too many lengthy paved trails around Las Vegas and Clark County but there is the 215 Beltway Trail, a ribbon of pavement that runs next to sections of the suburban highway that encircles the metro Las Vegas area.

A popular segment of the 215 Trail is in the western sprawling suburb of Summerlin, where the trail crosses busy Charleston Boulevard near the Red Rock hotel-casino. The problem is the trail crossing is neither a bridge nor a tunnel and crossing Charleston at grade is a dangerous endeavor because there are many motorists driving onto and off the 215 at ramps and turning right at red lights right into walkers and bicyclists who have the right-of-way to cross the road (after a lengthy wait).

I joined bicyclists Jen Hanks and Jared Fisher for a Channel 8 news report on this problem in December 2020. You can see the story here.  

That's why it's heartening to see construction of a 215 Trail tunnel going on now at Charleston. For a video look at the construction, click here.

Clark County is doing the work even though the city of Las Vegas is on the north side of Charleston. Kudos to Clark County Commission Justin Jones for spearheading this road safety project. Clark County Commission Chairman Michael Naft is also a strong proponent of safe roads for bicyclists and walkers. Sadly, the city of Las Vegas has no city council members championing this public safety issue and Mayor Shelley Berkley is a bit clueless on the topic.

Naturally, it's always best for trail crossings to be build safely when the trail is built. This tunnel (or bridges like the ones at the Town Center and Far Hills Ave. exits) should have been built as part of the trail when it opened. The crossings at Flamingo and Sahara are at grade and rather dangerous.

It will take a while for Clark County and the city of Las Vegas to catch up in the bicycle infrastructure category to other cities across the U.S. The national People For Bikes organization out of Colorado put Las Vegas at the 28th percentile of more than 3,000 cities when it comes to bike network resources. That's mighty sad and dismal.