Already thinking about tacos.

A group ride AND a commute both in one day? Don’t threaten me with a good time!

Around mid-week this ride got posted and I arranged to meet someone over at Mountains Edge Park around 5:30. That would give us an hour to get to Pebble Marketplace for the start. Unfortunately, getting to the park at 5:30 would mean leaving the house at 4:30 which requires getting up at 3:30. Thankfully getting up that early wasn’t that difficult. I regularly simply wake up at 4 for no real reason so getting up a half hour earlier wasn’t too difficult.

While doing my pre-flight checks I was surprised at how windy it was. Last night I went to be thinking the winds wouldn’t kick up until later in the morning. I should know than to listen to the local weather man by now. I was also surprised by how cool it was. Later, as I started rolling, I briefly wished I had a vest.

Being all dressed up and ready I ride I left the house a littler earlier than I had originally planned. I figured I might as well get moving and if the winds get any worse I may get delayed. I’m glad I did. I started with some warm up climbs to the top of a shared use path followed by a Sloan Canyon contact station flyby, and finished with the R-37 climb.

With the warm up climbs out of the way I set my sights on the park. The trip over was a pain with the wind. Along Via Inspirada was a cross to slight head wind as well as Sky Hills. The short stint over St. Rose felt like head long into the wind. I had originally planned on going across Erie and then going south after the pedestrian bridge, but I saw that I was just going to barely make it on time so I aborted that plan and when north on Torey Pines.

I rolled into the park at nearly 5:30 straight up and was disappointed to see no one there. I went ahead and used the restroom real quick before heading out rolling for Pebble Marketplace. Thankfully the trip down Cactus and across Pebble was quick. Sure the cross breeze buffeted me around once in a while but it was manageable.

Rolled up to the Starbucks and spotted Josh and Ivan hanging out enjoying some coffee. I went inside and joined them to chit chat while waiting for everyone else to show up. Thankfully it didn’t take too long and we were riding with a decent sized crew shortly thereafter.

Ride out to Boulder City went really well. The climb along the UPRR trail went really well for me at least. The wind seem to give us a brief break as well. We did pick up Sean as we passed by Cornerstone Park and he would hang out with us until Railroad Pass Casino when he headed back for home. The rest of use continued on to do a Boulder City Airport loop. Unfortunately, we had to make a slight detour in download Boulder City because the area around Wilbur Square was all closed up due to BC’s Spring Jubilee. Thankfully a detour wasn’t hard to figure out.

Made one last stop at the Lake Mead Visitor Center to top off water bottles before starting the long haul through the lake. At this point the wind was totally for our advantage. I remember cruising after the guard station just flying but not really doing any work. Did a pretty good job sticking with Joe and Josh on the front all the way around until Northshore where we stopped to regroup.

When everyone rolled in I noticed that Caleb was really close and it got me thinking he was rolling out trying to catch up with us. He rolled up and I was bummed to hear that he was heading out to Overton with his buddy Caleb. That boy and his training rides, phew. We all rolled out, Calebs included, and stuck together until Lake Mead Blvd when we made the turn west and the Calebs continued north.

The climb up Sunrise went really well. I was feeling pretty good considering how many miles I had in at this point. Sadly, once we hit the top the winds kicked up and were swirling around. They were strong enough to rob us from our well earned descent. Didn’t help that a few of us had to ride their breaks the entire way because they were getting bumped around so bad.

Had a nice break at the Terrible’s and had my well earned Zingers and Gatorade. Before we left Robert asked that us “big guys” take up the lead and pull the rest of the group to Wetlands Park. We set out to do just that. Thankfully as we turned on to Hollywood, Dennis rolled up, turned around, and decided to join us. Won’t get any complaints from me about that. Another guy bigger than me who can take pulls up front? Yes please!

The ride down Hollywood was just as bad as we had all expected with the wind. Thankfully with Joe and Dennis on the front I barely noticed it. At one point I did fall back to collect Robert and a few others, but they were all doing good so I just motored on. Really from there all the way back we were just cruising. The group mainly stuck together as we continued battling the wind.

Unfortunately, once we got back to Pebble Marketplace I had to say quick goodbyes and roll on to my office. One of my student employees had failed to get their shift covered and couldn’t work today. Thankfully we got to Pebble Marketplace at noon so it wasn’t that difficult to make it to campus, get cleaned up and changed, all before the shift started at 1:00. All the sections that were due north rolled SO fast. It was insane how much that tail wind just shoved you forward.

I made it to work with just enough time to get changed and presentable. I’d brought cloths and a baseball cap to the office on Friday in anticipation of working this shift. If you think I was going for my usual dress you’d be sorely mistaken. Jeans and a t-shirt baby. I walked in to the lab told the monitor they could go ahead and go, but I had to go get something to eat before I died. Gathered up a decent lunch along with my Starbucks(!) and enjoyed sitting back and relaxing for the remainder of the afternoon. Did have three separate hamstring camps (2 left, 1 right) which were pretty tough. Felt a lingering pain for a few minutes in each leg after the cramp finally let up.

Soon enough it was 6:00 and time to close up shop. The wife had offered to come get me and I’d told her I’d text/call if I needed it. With the cramps mentioned above, I was kinda worried I was feeling fine, but once I got on the bike things would change dramatically. Thankfully I made it all the way home without issue. Was actually feeling pretty good for having ridden so much earlier in the day. Crazy what a 5-6 hour break will do for your legs, lol.

I suppose you could say that this ride was two rides. The first was 113 miles and the second was 16.5. All I know is it was a lot of mile and I’m struggling to stay awake at the moment. Did come home with $0.09 to add to the new bike fund though! Would have had much more if I’d picked up the change on Veterans Memorial and Boulder City Pkwy. Not sure how well received me just stopping in the middle of an intersection would go over with the group.

New bike fund: $2.32(+$0.09)
0.28 new miles — From Wandrer.earth
Give your activities the names they deserve. – by Bandok.com
Mostly clear-Cloudy, 60°F-73°F, Feels like 59°F-70°F, Humidity 36%-17%, Wind S 5mph-SSW 10mph – by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: 2.8%
Headwind: 54% @ 8.1-26.4mph
Longest Headwind: 05h 57m 41s
Air Speed: 17.9mph
Temp: 54.6-72°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
— END —