From Jody:
We arrived back in Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon. We moved our stuff from the well appointed La Quinta by McCarran Airport to the Railroad Pass Casino, the closest hotel to the start of the next day's ride. T he Casino itself is tired and smokey, but the room was big and clean.
While Janie tried to master the computer and Garmin routes, I doubled back to the previous week's end point, at the intersection of US Hwy 95 & US Hwy 93, between Henderson and Boulder City. The endpoint was only a mile from the hotel, but on a very busy stretch of highway that narrowed due to traffic cones for road construction. I chose the eastern extension of the bike path where the next day I'd travel west and north. My little eastern leg totaled 5 miles by the time I returned. Janie was not completely successful with the computer and Garmins, and I convinced her to take a break before sundown ended any chance we had for sightseeing. The Hoover Dam is a marvel of engineering and the new Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is most impressive. Janie got to see an immature bighorn sheep on the return trip, right next to the road.
Monday's route started with me on the bike path above the Railroad Pass Casino just as dawn grayed to light. The bike path was fun, a bit of elevation gain in spots, lots of esses and rollers. On the first straightaway, my speed reach the mid thirties. I had to brake hard for an unannounced curve and access gate, then picked up speed once again. The route changed too soon for construction and the bike path gave way to a major street and it's traffic.
We soon left the city behind for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. We never got close to the water but saw it in the distance for long stretches. Janie drove The Little Darkness as support and I kept riding. Glad once again that we left early as the desert heat brought up the temperature readings. One impressive area is called the Bowl of Fire for its distinctive red rock formation.
Friendly tailwind and nice descents allowed me to clock speeds in the mid thirties a few times and once at 45. The corresponding ascents wore me down faster as the day - and the heat - progressed. I stopped at the ranger station as we exited the Lake Mead area - I spotted a car license from Linn County, IA. One of the rangers, Steve Sauer, is originally from Mechanicsville, IA and had only recently moved to Nevada from northern Linn County.
We continued on down the road. We wheeled past The Lost Museum (unfortunately this exhibition space for Anasazi artifacts is only open Thursday through Sunday) into unincorporated Overton, NV in the Moapa Valley. Lunch at The Inside Scoop, an ice cream shop, was good, and we just beat the crowd, which included a younger lookalike to Peyton Manning as well as four peace officers, including two from Moapa tribal police. Janie braved the afternoon heat to ride several miles. We drove back into the Lake Mead Recreation Area some twenty miles. It was 100 degrees at 4:30 when Janie started her ride and I took my first turn at driving support. The heat was debilitating. It dropped a degree in the next half hour. Within forty-five minutes, Janie's feet were on fire. There is no relief, no gentle breeze, no shade. The heat is unrelenting and finally stopped the ride.
Drink, drink, drink and recover. There will be plenty more riding days. Dinner that night at the VIP featured unsurpassed Chinese cuisine.
Look for light
Listen for inspiration on the wind
Let water cleanse your soul
Set yourself on a firm foundation
Serve as the plants
Do not offend your fellow creatures
Live in harmony with all creations
~Anasazi Foundation, The Seven Paths of the Anasazi Way: The Making of a Forward Walking
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