Sorry, folks. We’re closed for two weeks to clean and repair America’s favorite family fun park.

Finally back on the bike after taking much of the week off. This past week was finals week at being in and employed by school makes for double the amount of work as usual. I had both final exams and student employee reviews to tackle. Honestly, it was probably for the best anyway to give the legs some extra time to recover.

Started early with a ride down to Inspirada to meet up with Joy for some pre-ride miles. We were cruising along pretty well until I failed to point out something on the road and she got a flat near Volunteer. The two of us migrated to the raised center median and I went to work getting her fixed up. Pretty impressed with myself, to have only taken ten minutes to fix an unfamiliar bike. Once we were back rolling we met up with Moose as he was approaching Las Vegas Blvd on St. Rose. Made decent time to the start at PTs on Green Valley Pkwy and Horizon Ridge. Didn’t even end up late!

Right as we were rolling out to get started I spotted Tony Prager just as he was pulling in in his truck. I hollered at him to get a move on and parked the bike while we got out and ready. I’d guess we got started maybe 5-10 minutes after the rest of the gang.

The two of us made decent time and caught the group at the new Petro near Railroad Pass. I guess Robert wanted to make a stop at the new Dunkin’ Donuts that had recently opened. I know that Boots was absolutely thrilled by the idea.

Everyone set off for a Boulder City loop, but I hung back to wait for Roehl and Jennifer to get rolling on Roeh’s recumbent. Before we made it to Veterans Drive they had gone around me. We made the turn south, and after crossing Boulder City Pkwy I stopped to wait for Tony to catch up.

The two of us took the shortcut across Adams Blvd before making our way up to the park. I would come to find out later the group had cut across Wyoming to Nevada Way before making their way to Industrial. Tony and I would make our way to Colorado before going over to Industrial. I’m not sure how, but we ended up having a couple stragglers join us as well.

The ride back to the finish went off without a hitch. I had a great time visiting with everyone. Soon enough it was time to roll out. Joe decided he would join us making for a group made up of Boots, Dave, Joe, Kant, and I. I’d told Joe that Boots and I would probably go as far west at Fort Apache before turning back which he was perfectly happy with.

The post-ride mileage was great. I really didn’t want to fight the construction zone on Fort Apache north of Blue Diamond so before Serene I let Dave and Kant know we were heading west on Serene to begin our loop back. We said our goodbyes and wished each other luck and continued on.

Joe and I were absolutely cruising along Cactus after Jones. I asked what his plan was and he said he was going to take Cactus back to St. Rose before continuing through the Seven Hills area. I suggested he go north on LVB to take Pebble east. He agreed that was a better option and we said our goodbyes when Boots and I took LVB south.

Ended the ride with a nice Starbucks stop at the Bicentennial dog bone. We didn’t stay nearly as long as we have in the past because we both had Christmas parties to attend later in the evening. If we didn’t get home early enough to shower and get ready I’m sure our spouses would take it out of our hides.

Overall, great ride today. Started cool, but warmed up nicely without getting too hot. The legs were feeling great especially after the coffee and pancake at PTs.

New bike fund: $77.30 (+$0.18)
0.42 new miles — From Wandrer.earth
610 vehicles @ 5.7 per mile, 1.5 per minute, Speeds: 34.7 mph (avg), 63.5 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Give your activities the names they deserve. — by Bandok.com
Mostly cloudy-Mostly sunny, 41°F-61°F, Feels like 43°F-64°F, Humidity 45%-27%, Wind WSW 2mph-SSE 3mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock.com Report —
Weather Impact™: 4.8%
Headwind: 49% @ 2.4 – 13.1 mph
Longest Headwind: 49m 51s
Air Speed: 16.7 mph
Temp: 38.8-60.8 °F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
— END –‍