Commute Loop & LVAV Tuesday Night Ride – 2025.02.11

Second week of commuting followed by a Adobo Velo sufferfest. Despite everyone being “tired” from Saturday’s double century, the ride was spicy.

The ride to work was pretty uneventful. It was a little chilly and I had a difficult time warming up which I attribute to the fact the route is mostly downhill. In addition, the constant stop and go along Hacienda due to the traffic lights didn’t help things either. I would get into a nice rhythm and then hit a red light. Light turns green and I would start all over again.

Riding to Pedal & Pour after work went well. I was particularly impressed with the westbound drivers on Sunset immediately after the beltway interchange. As I started the descent towards Quarterhorse, I started looking back and waving a hand so I could cross the required three lanes to make my left. I was pleasantly surprised when everyone was chill and let me get all the way over without issue. These folks made the most difficult part of the day’s ride easy.

Arriving at Pedal & Pour at 6:00 on the button, I stopped at the truck to drop off a few things from the commute. For example, I don’t need my glasses to go along for the ride. Once everything was put away I went inside Pedal & Pour to chit chat with Joy and everyone working. I was also hiding from the cold. Similarly to the morning ride, the stop and go pattern while riding westbound on Hacienda made it difficult to get the core warmed up, but the segments in-between were just long enough to get a sweat going. Once I got to Pedal & Pour my kit was fairly damp from sweat, the temperatures continued to drop, and I started getting cold. Eventually as they closed up shop I migrated to my truck to hide out until everyone arrived. I’m thinking next week I’m going to delay leaving the office for a few minutes so I don’t arrive so early. I hope that will also allow some of the resort corridor traffic to lighten up, making that portion of the ride a little more enjoyable.

Matt was the first to pull in, and the first to get started. He’s coming back from a month off the bike after taking a spill and didn’t want to hold us back. Dave arrived a short time later, and then Stuart after that. While Dave was finishing getting ready, Stuart decided to roll out early and to catch and keep Matt company. A few minutes later it was time for Dave, Boots and I to roll out.

Dave led us out, and I’m glad he put in some effort on the first climb west up to Hualapai. It was just enough effort to rekindle the inner furnace and start building some warmth. I huggled his wheel as we continued northbound straight on into the wind. I would occasionally come around to take a few pulls here and there as we continued north which would help me get even warmer.

The worst of the winds were along the undeveloped section of Desert Foothills. Thankfully it was a short stretch and downhill to boot. Making the turn onto Lake Mead and eventually Kettle Ridge put the winds to our back and then the fun really began.

After passing Far Hills along Sky Vista the climbing was done. Combined with the tailwinds the descent to Crossbridge, and ultimately back to Pedal & Pour, was ridiculously fast. Our group absolutely smashed it along Desert Foothills from Charleston to Hualapi with Boots in tow nabbing her the QOM for the nearly 4.5 mile long segment. It was a blast.

Back at PTs for the post-ride dinner, we were joined by Robert, who had started much earlier and rode much longer, and Tony, who had logged some Peloton miles earlier in the day. It was a great night of bikes, dinner, and conversation.

New bike fund: $86.36 (+$0.00), €1.52 (+€0.00), ₱10.00 (+₱0.00), ֏10.00 (+֏0.00)
325 vehicles @ 6.3 per mile, 1.8 per minute, Speeds: 32.3 mph (avg), 53.5 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
384 total shifts, 38 front, 346 rear. 85.8% of the ride in the big ring, 14.2% in the small ring. Most time spent in 52×21, 24.5% — by di2stats.com
Partly sunny-Mostly cloudy, 45°F-56°F, Feels like 44°F-47°F, Humidity 24%-9%, Wind W 5mph-NNW 21mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock.com Report —
Weather Impact™: 3.7%
Headwind: 58% @ 5.3 – 19.6 mph
Longest Headwind: 52m 5s
Air Speed: 19.3 mph
Temp: 44-54.6 °F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
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