It's been a while since I biked the River Mountains Loop Trail, a roller-coaster 35-mile ribbon of asphalt that loops around the ridge between Lake Mead and the cities of Boulder City and Henderson outside Las Vegas.
This amazing paved trail circuit shows that local government cooperation between the Boulder City and Henderson working in conjunction with the federal Lake Mead National Recreation Area can create a marvelous public resource like this amazing trail that draws many tourists.
The weather was absolutely sparkling nice -- lows 70s, a slight breeze and a clear sky.
I start at the Mountain Lake Park parking lot off Lake Mead Parkway near Lake Las Vegas and start with three steep hills on the trail as I bike counter-clockwise.
Than it's a steady climb to Railroad Pass as I left the city of Henderson and headed for Boulder City.
Click here for a video of the trail as I biked the steady uphill.
It's a hilly course, with lots of ups and downs. I bike counter-clockwise to fly down the big hill from Boulder City to Lake Mead and its the national recreational area.
The route is a linear quilt of various biking sections the steady climb to Railroad Pass, the flying descent to Lake Mead, the roller-coaster of hills from Lake Mead to Lake Las Vegas and back to the small park off Lake Mead Parkway where I started.
In Lake Mead, I met two bicycling fellas who live in Boulder City -- Kevin and Bob. They live on a street of historic homes and know each other from childhood.
I met them on their street a week ago when I was bicycling through Boulder City. They're a couple of older goofballs, kidding and razzing each other.
They joked that I should buy a two-bedroom, two-bath house on their block that's selling for nearly $900,000. No wonder it's still on the market. It's probably the most expensive dollar-per-square-foot house in the metro Las Vegas area.
I was even in downtown Boulder City Saturday (yesterday) to see if I could sell a few books. I saw a bunch of triathlon cyclists getting coffee at the Boulder City Co, Store in downtown and I biked over on my Surly Pugsley to see if they would like to buy a book. (I was in Boulder City after biking on the fat-tire, single-speed, steel-framed Pug to Hoover Dam, photos below).
The lean folks on their $12,000 road bikes did not want to buy my $20 book.
But Marcia from Michigan did. Marcia was going inside the store when she heard me ask if anyone wanted to buy my Bicycle Man book. She said yes and even called her fellow Michigan friend, Bill, to come over and buy a book, too, because he was a bicyclist.
Here's a photo of Marcia and Bill and Bill's wife, Carolyn.
It was fun to see this crew after I enjoyed bicycling on the train tunnel trail from Lake Mead to Hoover Dam. Here's a look at biking on the dam. As promised, more photos here:
To buy my Bicycle Man book, email me at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com:
Look for my bicycle-theme stories under this banner in the right-hand column on LVSportsBiz.com
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