Commute Loop – 2023.10.17

Pop quiz. You’re commuting northbound on Las Vegas Blvd waiting at a red light to turn left onto St. Rose Pkwy. While you’re sitting there, a group of four cyclists go barreling through the green light going north on Las Vegas Blvd and hollering your name. You quickly realize they’re out on the group ride you saw published the night before. What do you do?

If you answered, cut across the open lanes of traffic and catch up with them, give yourself a gold star!

That’s pretty much how my morning commute started today. When I left the house this morning, the thought of running into the GVC gang on their way out to a Red Rock Flyby was furthest from my mind. I was delightfully surprised when I heard Joy’s distinct voice and she yelled out my name as she led the group through the intersection. As I watched them roll on it only took a few seconds to think to myself, “What the hell”, do a shoulder check, and push off to continue north on Las Vegas Blvd.

I figured worse come to worse I’d ride with them as far north along Las Vegas Blvd as possible before they turned off. I was quite surprised when I caught up with them and asked Mikey where their route was taking them. He said they were heading over for a Red Rock Flyby and suddenly the memory of seeing this ride posted on the GVC web-site came to me. He went on to say they were taking Starr west over into Southern Highlands before eventually working their way to Mountains Edge Pkwy. This was ideal for me as I had already been taking a similar route for my morning commutes for a few weeks now. So I’m getting the best of both worlds! A nice commute combined with a group ride, albeit a brief one.

I had a great time riding and visiting with the GVC gang and we rode through Southern Highlands and made our way over to Mountains Edge. I made sure to try to have a conversation with everyone there to, hopefully, not make anyone feel left out. Sadly, we had to go out separate ways at the intersection of Rainbow and Mountains Edge Pkwy. I was continuing north on my typical morning commute while they would go west for their flyby. As I went through the green light I gave several rings of the bell, waved, and hollered out a goodbye.

With my day thoroughly made, the rest of the ride was uneventful, but my spirits were as high as they could be considering I was heading to work. I’ll admit I was very tempted to call in late and extend my ride with the GVC gang before heading on to work. In hindsight I’m glad I didn’t because there was a nasty accident on Flamingo near campus and it caused one of my student employees to be late for their opening shift. If I’d called off the lab would have opened late and I’m not ok with that.

Anyway, another great day of riding and commuting. Had a fun time with the GVC gang before continuing on to work. Would love to run into a group each morning on my ride in, but that ain’t going to happen. Hitting the gym and I have class tomorrow so no commute, but I’ll be back at it Thursday morning!

New bike fund: $30.04 (+$0.08)
478 vehicles @ 9.5 per mile, 2.7 per minute, Speeds: 34.6 mph (avg), 56.8 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Mostly clear-Clear, 60°F-83°F, Feels like 61°F-82°F, Humidity 30%-14%, Wind WSW 2mph-NNE 2mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: -2.9%
Headwind: 28% @ 0.5-10.5mph
Longest Headwind: 10h 9m 23s
Air Speed: 17.5mph
Temp: 61-82.2°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
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