Why do you taunt me with your darkness? Your evil is stinkin’ up our streets! The end is near! We are all gonna die!

Another lovely day for a ride in the Vegas Valley.

Friday afternoon received a text from Mark asking if I was riding over to Mountains Edge Park for the start of the Adobo Velo ride. I said I would because I wanted to ride more miles than a Red Rock Flyby. We agreed to meet at Anthem Hills Park at 6:30. Later Friday night I received a text from Joy asking if I was riding over to Mountains Edge and if so if she could join us. Told her she was more than welcome to join us.

Saturday morning I was up early and enjoyed a nice breakfast and coffee before heading out at 6:00. I added a Somersworth and Shadow Canyon loop when riding down to Anthem Hills Park. I got to the park about 10 minutes early so I rode up Cadence back to Reunion instead of stopping and waiting. As I came back into the park, I spotted Mark rolling in to make a quick restroom stop. We rolled over to the skate park and had to wait for a few minutes for Joy to show up. She was only a few minutes late, but we made sure to give her a ribbing for it.

As we made our way across Levi/Erie we were chatting along like we typically do when Joy drops this, “I’m wanting to do a century today.” Mark and I look at each other thinking this lady is nuts, but we roll with it thinking by the time we’re towards the end of the ride she’ll be done. We made rolled at a decent pace, added a few extra miles, but rolled up to the start with five minutes to spare.

Straight away I jumped out in front and lead the group all the way up Blue Diamond to NV-159. I was feeling pretty good leading everyone, but was really surprised I didn’t get anyone coming around me. After making the turn onto NV-159 we stopped to allow a few folks to catch up, and once they did we set off to catch a few who had set off earlier.

Starting up 159 I let everyone go on by and rolled at the back for a bit, but it wasn’t long before I went around everyone and was back on the front. We were moving at a solid pace and eventually caught the small front group just before Blue Diamond. As we came around them they jumped on for the rest of the flyby. Was doing pretty good until the steeper sections leading up to the overlook. Thankfully Henry came around me and I was able to latch onto his wheel. He went on to pull me, and the rest of the train, all the way up to the overlook. I was super excited when we got there because I hadn’t blown up and dropped his wheel. There was a few minutes there when I thought that was going to happen, but I dug deep and held on.

We blew past the overlook to start our bombing run to DFH. I came back around Henry for a bit and then John came around me and I was happy to let him take the reigns for a bit. After cresting the slight hill after the cattle guard I came around to pick up the lead again. I pushed the pace and dumped what little I had left. Once I was smoked I pulled over and let the train pass me on by. I was able to latch on to the back and follow the pack until we stopped at the Terrible’s. We were only at Terrible’s for a few minutes before moving over to Dunkin’.

We sat around Dunkin’ for close to 30 minutes while waiting for Robert and a few others to roll in. Come to find out that someone had had a flat near the overlook which caused their delay. While it sucked to be waiting so long, I would rather wait and know everyone is good than leave only to find out later something bad had happened.

At this point there was a group of us that wanted to roll up to do the Villa Ridge climb, but Robert needed to return back to Mountains Edge in order to start prepping for the Christmas party later in the day. We said our goodbyes and split up to go our separate ways.

The ride over to Villa Ridge was pretty quick. Had a funny conversation with Kant while watching the group from the back as we approached the climb. If you sat back you could see everyone girding themselves for the pain and agony that lie ahead. People grabbing gels, shaking out their hands, hitting their water bottles. It was quite the sight and we were having ourselves a nice chuckle about it. The climb went better than expected, but my legs were starting to get tired.

The ride back to DFH was pretty chill, but we had to make one stop for a flat which went pretty quick. We all stopped, but Carlos said he was good and we should roll on. We weren’t having any of that and we all helped to get him taken care of. Lucky for him we didn’t listen because he got out his spare tube only to find out it didn’t have a long enough stem. I pulled out my 80mm spare and we were rolling not to long after that.

Had a fast ride down through west Summerlin, but as we turned onto Fort Apache my legs were done with leading and wanting a break. As we stopped for a red at Warm Springs we realized we’d lost Carlos and Isabelle. At the green we rolled through the intersection and pulled off to hang out and wait for them to catch up. Didn’t take long and they explained they had stopped at Pedal and Pour thinking we were all stopping when in fact Kant was just pulling off because he lived in the area.

Continuing south, I honestly was having trouble keeping up with Joy, Mark, Jeff, and Isabelle and started falling behind. Then I got caught at a light and they were gone. Carlos pulled up with me and I figured I’d dial it back a bit and stick with him while offering a friendly wheel until we got back to the park. We did eventually catch up to the others at a red light at Blue Diamond, but once it went green they were off to the races again. I hung back again with Carlos and Isabelle until the park.

Mark, Joy, and I said goodbye to everyone and started off to find miles to take us to a century. Worked our way over to Green Valley Grocery near M where we stopped for a decent fueling break. I was super happy about that, and I think they were too. Nothing gets me ready for even more miles than an ice cold Coke and Raspberry Zingers.

We set off south along LVB. We didn’t know how far we were going. I had jokingly said we were going to do a Goodsprings loop, but that met with a resounding no. We knew we would be turning onto Via Inspirada on the way back, so I noted the mileage as we passed by and continued south. Rode south to the end of the climb before dropping down to Seven Magic Mountains and then flipped around for a quick ride back to town.

From there back was pretty uneventful. Honestly we were just logging the miles at this point. We stuck together towards Democracy. Joy turned at Anthem Highlands leaving Mark and I to climb the remainder of Democracy. As we started the climb Mark says he’ll see me at the round-a-bout and I’m like yeah sure bud like I have anything left to fly up this. No surprise less than half way up I spy his shadow behind me.

I told Mark I wasn’t doing the extra climb to the top and only going to the stop sign. Thankfully he was fine with that. We went down to the cul-de-sac at the end of Chateau Clemont where Mark hit the powerline trail and I hit the road to my place.

And that’s that, another century in the bag. Have to say lighting up a handful of matches at the start definitely caught up with me towards the end. Really though, overall, had a really great ride with some great people before the big party.

0.37 new miles — From Wandrer.earth
Give your activities the names they deserve. – by Bandok.com
Cloudy-Mostly sunny, 46°F-62°F, Feels like 48°F-62°F, Humidity 65%-34%, Wind WSW 2mph-ENE 2mph – by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: 5.7%
Headwind: 59% @ 2.4-8.5mph
Longest Headwind: 01h 14m 18s
Air Speed: 18.4mph
Temp: 40.9-60.1°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
— END —