I sense a great change in your future. Destiny has dire plans for you, my friend.

19.4°F…19.4°F…19.4°F is what my Garmin recorded along NV-159 between Castalia (the Blue Diamond turn) and the First Creek Trailhead just north of Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. To say the day started cold would be an understatement.

The “official” ride was 40 miles and I knew I wanted more than that. I’d been kicking around the idea of riding over to the start, but I also had a UNLV basketball game scheduled for 2. Then I thought about riding over and, since the ride was coming back through Inspirada, heading home early. Then Robert posted he was going to do a Red Rock flyby starting at 6 giving me another option. Also had John poking me to join him for a ride over. Finally settled on driving over to Pedal & Pour to ride the Red Rock flyby with Robert, Kant, and Caleb. Then once the ride was over I’d be able to drive home and the kiddo and I could go to the game.

With the flyby starting at 6 and the birthday ride at 9 I had to consider I’d be riding in very different weather. I packed the best winter gear I owned for the flyby. For the birthday ride I brought a lighter base layer and long sleeve thermal jersey. Also brought along some street clothes. Will say gear choices were on point and everything worked out great.

The four of us rolled out of Pedal & Pour at around 6:10 and, honestly, it wasn’t too bad. It was cold to be certain, but nothing worse than my morning commute. Had a great time chatting up Robert along Fort Apache, but when we hit the narrow portion before Blue Diamond I pulled out so we could ride single file. Turning onto Blue Diamond the temps started dropping. I realized I was out alone so I just kept rolling at an easy pace to allow the guys to catch me up. Soon enough Kant rolled up and we got to chat it up until the turn onto NV-159. We stopped just after the turn to allow Robert and Caleb to catch up.

We started rolling towards Red Rock and I knew the worst of the cold lay ahead. Last time I rode a flyby in the winter everyone kept calling out the dropping temperatures as we approached the town of Blue Diamond so I knew when we’d hit the bottom. I’d mentioned this to Kant and asked him to not share the temps and that we’d just “Embrace the suck” until we were done. We also agreed that sharing the suffering with someone else somehow made it a little more bearable. We rode side-by-side all the way until the overlook where we decided to stop to allow Robert and Caleb to catch up.

Thankfully it wasn’t long until we spotted them back down the way so we knew they hadn’t run into issues. As they approached we went to meet them and roll out when they asked to have us all wait so they could use the restroom. At the start, we had tossed around the idea of stopping at the DFH Dunkin’, but I’d countered with let’s just ride the whole thing straight through and enjoy Pedal & Pour afterwards. So allowing a quick break before the downhill slide to the finish was a-okay.

Funny enough once we stopped we got a good look at Robert and he had ICE hanging from his beard! Looked over at Kant and be damned he had some hanging from his whiskers as well! UNBELIEVABLE! We all enjoyed a laugh at that while he took a selfie. Check out his ride for the pic.

Rolling from the overlook we picked it up a little which isn’t hard when you’re going down hill. I latched onto Robert’s wheel until the climb past Cowboy Trail Rides. After we crested that small climb him and I started rolling and rotating. It’s funny it wasn’t even something we had planned we just started doing it. I’d get a solid pull from him, smooth roll around him, he’d fall in behind, grab a pull of his own, come back around me, and then I’d get another pull. Rinse and repeat almost all the way back to DFH. Just rolled together so perfectly, had an absolute blast.

The roll down DFH and what I call west Summerlin was pretty quick. I was kinda out away from the guys as I came up on Red Rock Ranch which is NOTORIOUS for being wet in the corner. I came into the corner with my eyes peeled and be damned there was a nice six foot stretch of ice in the corner. I came to a complete stop and waved down the guys to slow their roll. Last thing I wanted was for one of us to lay a bike down hitting an odd patch of ice.

After that we rolled on and stuck together for a bit. Think we were all imagining our future selves enjoying a steaming hot coffee and pastry. After a while Kant and I pulled away from Robert and Caleb again. If you’ve read this far, next time you see Kant ask him about his bunny hop during this portion of the ride. All of use made good time and rolled into Pedal & Pour with 45 minutes top spare to sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruits of our frozen labors. A short few minutes later people started to roll in for the birthday ride.

Sadly, I don’t really have all that much to report on the birthday ride. We rolled out of Pedal & Pour easily enough. It seems that I was one of the few people who had the route on their computer so I got tapped to lead. Thankfully Jon also had the map pretty well memorized so he did some leading as well. That worked out for the best because I would fall back and sweep for most of the ride. Overall it was a good time and I had fun encouraging folks to roll on and roll strong to the finish.

Once back at Pedal & Pour we all hung out and visited while Robert rolled out to grab pizza. When he got back we migrated over to the PTs next door to continue socializing. I did end up chatting with the kiddo and we agreed to bail on the UNLV basketball game so I was able to stay much later than I had originally intended. No complaints there that’s for sure!

Hanging out now at the house I’m feeling pretty good but definitely tired. Tired from not only the ride but not nearly enough sleep last night as well. Looking forward to continuing to enjoy my couch and some YouTube before turning in early.

Give your activities the names they deserve. – by Bandok.com
Mostly clear-Mostly sunny, 30°F-42°F, Feels like 30°F-42°F, Humidity 55%-34%, Wind N 0mph-N 0mph – by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: 6.2%
Headwind: 52% @ 2.9-6.7mph
Longest Headwind: 52m 0s
Air Speed: 16.5mph
Temp: 24.9-43.5°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
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