Oooh, peer pressure from a group of people I don’t respect. Now that’s scary.

In cycling one of the worst text messages you can receive is from one of your buddies saying, “Hey man are you riding over to the start of the ride?” What can I say I’m a sucker for extra credit.

This week has been a tough one. Work and wind has kept me off the bike and I was itching for some mileage. I’ve been working long days in order to get ready for my seven week long vacation to attempt the Pacific Coast Bike Route again. Anyway, after talking with Mark I decided I’d ride over early with him despite having to leave so dang early.

Of course as luck would have it Friday would be the day I worked the latest this week. I didn’t leave campus until 10:00 and didn’t get into bed until 11:30. So getting up at 3:00 to leave the house around 4:15 was painful, but once I got on the bike all that pain went away.

Rolled up to Anthem Hills Park a little earlier than I expected which gave me a few minutes to relax. The park was really nice and quiet this early in the morning. About ten minutes Mark rolled up and after a quick bathroom break we rolled out.

The ride over to Mountains Edge Park was uneventful. Mark and I had a great ride with plenty of time to chit chat. We rolled up to the park right at 5:30, found no one there and rolled on for Pedal & Pour. The ride over to Pedal & Pour was more of the same, chill and talkative. Honestly it was great to visit. We did, however, roll up to Pedal & Pour about five minutes late. I spotted a few cars I recognized, but Mark and I rolled through to try to catch the other group.

Mark and I eventually caught up to Robert and Ivan on just past Flamingo. Mark hung back with Robert and I tried to head up the road to catch Joy, Jon, and Henry. I would catch them just a few blocks before West Tech where we were picking up the rest of the group for the start of the official ride.

From West Tech to the Gun Range and back was a solid ride. We had a huge group of 50 some riders roll out. Quite impressive for an Adobo Velo ride cross posted to the Las Vegas Group Rides Strava group. Lots of heavy hitters and they were out swinging. Was glad I could keep up and they were nice enough to allow me to lead the train once or twice (but lets be honest, they didn’t have the route :D). Later in the ride we had a nice group that hung together for the climbs up Elkhorn and Lone Mountain. I did decided to do the extra climbing to the top of the portion of Lone Mountain that’s closed. It was tough.

Got a late start from the Terrible’s at the top of Lone Mountain and missed out on the lead pack. Didn’t really matter because I doubt I would have had the ability to keep up with the climbing. Did eventually pass them hanging out along a partially closed section of DFH and I just rolled through not wanting to stop.

I rolled into the West Tech parking lot and visited with a few folks that were there still hanging out after the ride. I eventually pulled up a piece of curb in the shade to get off my feet for a bit. I had planned on doing a Red Rock Flyby; however, after Mark, Joe, and a few others rolled up and we talked about afternoon plans I decided to roll down to Pedal & Pour to enjoy some coffee, pastry, and company. Sitting there in the parking lot I could feel the muscles along my inner left thigh tightening up like they wanted to cramp. One of the signs that I don’t want to tack on too much more extra credit.

Ride down to Pedal & Pour went really quick. Did catch Joe rolling by in his SUV and tried to follow him. Sadly I wasn’t paying attention and followed him right up a wrong turn. Then to make things even worse it was more climbing. Thankfully it wasn’t a very long climb. Got flipped around and rolled in the rest of the way without issue.

At Pedal & Pour I got to enjoy a coke, cinnamon roll, AND iced cold brew. Think my eyes were a little bigger than my stomach and my stomach was feeling hit and miss for a while there. Thankfully, Mark was ok with hanging out for extra innings before we decided to roll home.

The ride home through Mountains Edge and Southern Highlands was pretty much the same as our ride over. Nice and chill and much conversation. I did notice that Caleb was in the area and we got pretty close to one another, but never did lay eyes on the guy. Know he’s working a big training block for an upcoming event.

Made a quick stop at the Green Valley Grocery at LVB and Volunteer to top up our water bottles so we could freely drain them along Hampton.

Overall another great ride. I’d thought that this would be the last ride before my trip, but I decided to lead a ride out to Boulder City on Monday. That will be the last ride before Shadow, and a lion’s share of my gear, go into a box for the flight.

New bike fund: $4.42 (+$0.02)
3.87 new miles — From Wandrer.earth
Give your activities the names they deserve. – by Bandok.com
Clear-Mostly sunny, 71°F-89°F, Feels like 69°F-100°F, Humidity 23%-12%, Wind SW 3mph-NE 3mph – by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: -1.7%
Headwind: 46% @ 1.3-18.3mph
Longest Headwind: 02h 2m 31s
Air Speed: 17.4mph
Temp: 67.5-88.2°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
— END —