Vegas, baby!

[DickHead]

So I went with the wife and kiddos to Vegas for the weekend to see the BIL and his wife and baby. Of course, I had to take advantage of the 40-55* weather and brought my road bike.
Day 1 was uneventful. I rode for just over an hour in the North Las Vegas area, just riding a circuit on some surface streets. There is alot of newer neighborhoods there, which meant less traffic during the morning "working" hours.
Day 2 was the real gem. I loaded the bike and went to Las Vegas Cyclery (http://www.lasvegascyclery.com/). From there I headed west for Red Rock Canyon. The mistake was leaving the bike shop for this ride, A) its an iffy neighborhood, B) I had to ride about 2 miles on a very, very busy road with no shoulder or bike lane. My advice is to ride from the Red Rock Casino. The bike shop rents road and mountain bikes, and has trail and ride info, though, so its worth stopping in. If you leave from the casino you lose about 4 miles of road riding each way, but you gain a much safer ride. The mileage can be made up for by turning right after the scenic loop and continuing towards Blue Diamond.
Anyways, so after pedaling a ways out of Vegas, you come to the Red Rock Canyon scenic loop (http://www.redrockcanyonlv.org/).
Its a 13 mile loop, and all told the climbing from the Casino to the highest point is about 2500-2800 total. Its a great ride, and if I were to go to Vegas to have a good time I think I'd just stay at the Red Rock and take a cab to the strip!
Without further ado....pics!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec2006lasvegasbikes.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec20061.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec20062.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec20063.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec20064.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec20065.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec20066.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec20067.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec20068.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec20069.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec200610.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec200611.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec200612.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec200613.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec200614-highestpoint.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec200615.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/Atc1man/cycling/redrockcanyondec200616.jpg

Edit:
It was 32 miles-ish from the bike shop around the loop and back.

[tanya]

That looks lilke Vegas. Nice trail report and photos :2thumbs:

[Sombeech]

Cool. That would be nice this time of year.

[accadacca]

Certainly would be nice. I saw a couple guys on motorcycles in one of your pictures...sniffle, sniffle.

[DickHead]

Certainly would be nice. I saw a couple guys on motorcycles in one of your pictures...sniffle, sniffle.

Look close at some of the other pics there are motorcycles in the distance on the windy road.
The speed limit was 35, and I caught up to a couple rockets that were pulled over by the park rangers.....
:lol8:
I actually broke that speed limit a few times on the descent.....