See the mapped route here…

I have so much to post and write about but this ride today was one of the best rides I’ve ever had the opportunity to do.

B&K and I met up with all their biking friends at Starbucks early on this morning. About 20 people in all sucked a coffee down and formed a peloton taking the road out of town into the desert and mountains. The road had only a very slight incline in places as it threaded through the desolate rocky landscape enclosed by looming sharp red mountains in the background.

The group quickly picked up pace and all hope of staying together was shattered when one of the fittest blokes decided to pace everyone on his TimeTrial bike! The hardcore managed to hang in there, the rest of us regrouped some distance up the road.

After several miles we reached a T-Junction and the group splintered off into those who wanted to do a loop through the mountains, those who wanted to head back to the start and 3 of us who wanted to go downtown to see the marathon. It was another 20 miles into town on one of those long straight highways synonymous of the classic photos you see of long straight roads in the Nevada desert (If you need a visual – go to Google Maps and drop the streetview icon on Blue Diamond Road jnc Shaumber Road, Las Vegas, Nevada).

We approach the first coned off area in town, guarded by two cops on motorbikes. We skirted through the cones and began moving alone the course between the 15 – 20 mile points with the runners. This took us down to the strip where my first glimpse of anything was the Mandalay Bay Hotel in all it’s glimmering goldness shimmering in the sun. As we rode up the bridge the Luxor Hotel and Casino also came into view surrouned by the entire skyline of everything Vegas.

We continued on following the route through the main strip, passing runners dressed as Elvis, Brides, Spongebob Squarepants and various other interesting costumes. There were bands and singers performing every mile as well as enthusiastic cheerleaders and spectators shouting from every direction. We passed Excalibur, Eiffel Tower and arrived at the Bellagio just as the fountains and music had started playing.

We were so fortunate that we were able to be there, at that time, on our bikes because the entire strip was closed to traffic for the marathon. At no other time would we have been able to stop in the middle of the massive junctions to take photos like we did or slowly freewheel along taking in the sites and sounds at that leisurely pace. I really had an exclusive tour!

As we completed the strip we filtered through the queues of traffic piled up at the other end of town. One car passed us and ran promptly into the back of another car! We carried on the remaining 20 miles back to Starbucks to meet up with the rest of the group – just in time for a Vanilla Skinny Latte and a well earned chunk of spicy pumpkin cake.

Photos and video are on their way.

Tomorrow – Mountain Biking at the Cowboy Trails.

I hate to use a cliche – but Viva Las Vegas…