I learned something new today; you can adopt an entire highway?

The original plan for today was to ride out, do the loop, and then on the way back to Pedal & Pour snap a picture at the Adopt-A-Highway sign with the new Adobo Velo sign attached. Unfortunately with all the rain over the past few days there were sections of the loop that were covered in debris. To save ourselves the trouble, and avoid the possibility of someone taking a spill on a particularly slick section, we called an audible for the route. We would ride out to Cottonwood Station and along the way stop at the sign for a group photo, and then make the return ride after the Cottonwood Station stop.

Before all that though, I received a text from Boots late last night asking about Jennifer and Chanel joining us for some pre-ride miles. I shared that the two of them should meet us at Cactus and Las Vegas Blvd at 6:15 and that would put us to Pedal & Pour at the scheduled 7:00 start time. Boots and I, however, would meet up at our usual spot at 5:45.

Riding over to Pedal & Pour was great. Somewhere along LVB before Starr I received a text from Jennifer that she and Chanel were at Cactus and LVB and were continuing on without us. As Boots and I made our way west along Cactus we could see the pair of girls out ahead of us, and we were gradually gaining on them. However, Boots and I had an absolutely amazing view of Red Rock as we crested the Cactus Nipple. It was so nice we decided to stop and grab a couple pictures for our trouble. As Boots and I got ready to ride on we could see the two girls out ahead of us just crossing over Buffalo. Boots even made a comment that we’d never catch them. Well we eventually did along Fort Apache as we made the descent down to Maule. It was funny as we went by and I rang my bell.

After a lot of chit chatting and bathroom breaks at Pedal & Pour it was finally time to roll out. I started in the rear, but before we cleared Sunset I was just behind Moose out in front. Going past him I just started cruising along Hualapai. As we made the turn onto Tropicana I was surprised to see that it was only Boots, Rick, Cleiton, and I. Figuring we were already too far out front to wait we just kept on cruising until West Tech where some other riders had arranged to meet us. When we got there we circled the parking lot and didn’t see anyone. As we went to exit the parking lot we looked north and spotted someone hanging out on the corner of Charleston and Desert Foothills. Making the left onto DFH and again onto Charleston we would see the remainder of the group who had decided to start from West Tech. We pulled up to wait for the rest of the group.

Making our way out to the sign I again started from behind. I started overtaking riders, and eventually went by the lead group just before the climb up to the Red Rock sign/photo op area. As I cleared the cattle guard and hit the bottom, I set out to push myself out to the sign. Made a solid effort out of it and ran out of gas right as I arrived at the sign. This gave me unfettered access to take all the pictures I wanted before everyone else arrived.

When all the photos were done being taken we set out for Cottonwood Station. I ended up staying behind with Kant taking even more pictures. Once we’d snapped all we could snap we rolled out. After a quick stop at the Overlook we continued on for Cottonwood. Along the way we picked up Tony and told him to jump on our wheels. He did a great job of sticking with us nearly the entire distance. During that time Kant and I had a great chance to shoot the breeze and catch up. He’s been swamped with work lately and it makes getting out to Saturday rides a little tough.

Rolling into Cottonwood Station everyone was hanging out visiting. I went up to the patio to pull up next to Robert. I chose to skip on any coffee or pastry in order to get both once we got back to Pedal & Pour. Had a good time hanging out and relaxing while chatting with Robert and Shannon. Eventually, as Robert put it, the natives started getting restless so we cut them loose to continue on. Many of them decided to continue to Blue Diamond to make a full loop back to Pedal & Pour. As Robert and I continued talking, we decided we’d stick with the original plan to do a northern fly by before returning to Pedal & Pour. Shannon chimed in that she was going to get started early so she wasn’t holding us up on the climbs. When Robert first got up to call it, he hesitated with the time so I insisted he grab another cup of coffee, and to my surprise he did. We continued chatting while he enjoyed his second cup, and eventually it was time for us to roll out.

The northern flyby went really well. We’d worried about stiff headwinds for the return, and we were pleasantly surprised with little to no wind to speak of. Robert and I made great time and just before the detention basin I received a text from Shannon that she was at West Tech waiting for us. I skipped replying knowing that we’d be there soon enough. After a brief stop to wait for Robert the three of us continued on to Pedal & Pour. Overall this section of the ride went really fast with a solid tailwind out of the north.

Arriving at Pedal & Pour, we found that several folks who had started with us had already left for the day. Thankfully a large portion of the group had hung around for pizza. I grabbed a coffee and a wedding cookie while Robert left to go pick up the pizza for the birthday celebration.

With the birthday celebrations concluded, it was time for Boots and I to head out for home. Since I’d done the northern flyby and she did a full loop I was now a few miles closer to a century than she was. As we were about to leave the parking lot I asked her where we’re going, and she replied “I think we’re needing right.” So right we went.

After a solid climb through west Summerlin, we made the left onto Charleston for another southern flyby. Clearing the cattle guard, I told Boots that we were going to try for another strong interval/effort all the way to the Overlook. We made a solid go of it. I think she fell off around Moenkopi Road, and my legs were done just before the main Red Rock entrance. We regrouped at the Overlook and took a short break before continuing on.

From there on back to our closing Starbucks stop, things went without issue. I will add that after our turn onto Southern Highlands I threw out two routing options for Boots to choose from. One was to continue on Southern Highlands to St Rose followed by a southern ride along LVB to Via Nobila. The other was the route we ultimately took. Thankfully we were finally given a reprieve from what felt like headwinds from every direction as we turned onto Sunridge Heights.

After 50 minutes of enjoying coffee, chatting, and browsing Strava it was time to get moving. I could have easily hung out for much longer, but I started getting cold. Boots and I parted ways like we usually do when we reached Via Firenze. As I climbed up towards Anthem Highlands on Democracy I figured I’d give another interval effort a shot to get the Democracy climb done and over with all the quicker. Ended up doing pretty good and got home with a solid 115 miles for the day.

Stunner of a ride today. Kinda bummed that we didn’t get the opportunity to do the loop, but it’ll be there next time. It was great to have some many people come out to show support for the club’s latest endeavour. Robert also seized the opportunity to recruit everyone to join for the next cleanup session in April while promising a BBQ lunch at the Overlook after we’re finished. Seriously looking forward to that.

New bike fund: $86.61 (+$0.25), €1.52 (+€0.00), ₱10.00 (+₱0.00), ֏10.00 (+֏0.00)
643 total shifts, 58 front, 585 rear. 80.9% of the ride in the big ring, 19.1% in the small ring. Most time spent in 52×21, 18.5% — by di2stats.com
669 vehicles @ 5.8 per mile, 1.7 per minute, Speeds: 42.2 mph (avg), 66.0 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Clear-Sunny, 48°F-64°F, Feels like 45°F-68°F, Humidity 46%-22%, Wind NW 6mph-N 5mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock.com Report —
Weather Impact™: 2.8%
Headwind: 45% @ 6.1 – 13.9 mph
Longest Headwind: 02h 9m 13s
Air Speed: 17.9 mph
Temp: 48.1-62.4 °F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
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