Commute Loop – 2023.08.10

Woke up an hour earlier than I’d hoped this morning. I have no explanation as to why either. Either way after laying in bed for around 20 minutes I bit the bullet and got up and started the day.

After my regular breakfast I left the house around 6:00 a.m. No harm in getting to work early when you have a ton of work to do.

Late last night I saw where Kant and Stu mentioned they were riding over to Lake Las Vegas from the DFH Dunkin for a big mileage day. I would have really loved to take a sick day to go with them, but like I mentioned above, work calls. I was certainly surprised when I spotted the two of them along Las Vegas Blvd north of Cactus. They were just far out enough that I thought I could catch them so I put my head and power down and went for it. I did finally catch them when they caught a red light at Agate. I rolled up behind them and came to a quiet stop. It didn’t take but a few seconds before Kant turned around, eyes went huge, cracked a large smile, and exclaimed, “Hey!”. This caught Stu’s attention and he turned and was equally surprised. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to talk all that much before we had to part ways. I was continuing north on Las Vegas Blvd toward work while they were turning east onto Pebble toward Lake Las Vegas.

Having burned several matches trying to catch up with those two jokers, I was happy to set the legs to cruise for the remainder of the ride. During that time I was reminded how much I enjoy riding into work taking Las Vegas Blvd. There are a few sections of road north of Sunset that could use a fresh coat of asphalt, but outside of that the road is amazing. I’ve been avoiding Las Vegas Blvd since late last year when flood control construction had the road torn up between Russell and Sunset. With that construction over I think I’m going to start haunting that stretch again.

Had a long day at work and ended up leaving much later than I had expected. I was late because of one part my ability to chit chat with my boss and one part wanting to get one more item off my list. I have to admit that if I hadn’t been so happy to chat with my boss I might have wrapped up the day at a normal time.

The ride home went really well. I was surprised that I had as much of a tail wind as I did. I felt like I had a nice cruise going along Pecos. It was a little different route home today as well. Instead of leaving campus along the east side near Tropicana, I opted to take Harmon to Pecos and south. The road surface along Pecos is really nice and I get nice long stints if I hit the green lights, which seemed to play in my favor today.

Overall, I am really happy with the route/loop I did today. I think if I were to stick with it, mix up different segments and efforts I could certainly get back into the swing of things in no time. I was even telling the wife that tonight was the first night I rolled up to the house and was feeling more like my normal pre-tour end of commute self. Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel?

New bike fund: $24.68 (+$0.00)
235 vehicles @ 6.3 per mile, 1.9 per minute, Speeds: 37.2 mph (avg), 60.4 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Mostly cloudy-Mostly clear, 89°F-93°F, Feels like 87°F-90°F, Humidity 31%-29%, Wind SSE 4mph-NNE 6mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: -8.1%
Headwind: 45% @ 7.7-18.3mph
Longest Headwind: 11h 54m 56s
Air Speed: 18.4mph
Temp: 83.4-90°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
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