You can go home, so long as you understand that home is a place where you have never been.

I really should rename this ride to “Hey, why is the distance on my Garmin stuck at 33 miles? Everyone loves a good trilogy.”

With Robert going out of town for his daughter’s baby shower, on Tuesday night he asked me to host the weekend’s ride. After some brief conversation around the table we settled on a trip out to the gun range for the route. I posted the ride and its details to the group’s Facebook page and included some additional rendezvous points between the house and the start at West Tech for others to join in if they wanted extra credit. I was certainly surprised when we started west from the intersection of Cactus and Las Vegas Blvd with eight riders in total: Boots, Chanel, Jack, Jennifer, Jon, Mark, Roger, and I. In addition, Kant had told me the night before him and Dave would meet with us at Pedal & Pour.

Our stacked group of eight made great time. Even accounting for stopping at the railroad overpass on Cactus to take pictures of another amazing spring sunrise. I pointed it out and we couldn’t help but stop. We were all rewarded with some great pictures for our trouble.

As we approached the intersection of Fort Apache and Blue Diamond, I checked my computer to see where Kant might be. Seeing he was less than a half mile away and moving fast I scooted forward just a hair to see around the van at the light. Looking west I could see a group of three riders coming our direction. As our light turned green to continue north, we got a better look at the group and realized it was Dave, Kant, and Stu. Our group of eight slow rolled until the three of them caught up, and our now group of 11 pushed on to Pedal & Pour.

We arrived a few minutes early to Pedal & Pour which gave everyone a chance to visit and use the bathroom before we continued on to West Tech. While we were there we picked up a few more riders including Herbie, Tony, and Jessica. Soon enough it was time to go in order to make it to West Tech on time. We made our way through The Mesa and ultimately arrived at West Tech just before 8:00.

After gathering up the troops we snapped the pre-ride picture and hit the road. As we waited at the Charleston light, Herbie chimed in and mentioned that today was his birthday. I seized the opportunity to get everyone’s attention and call it out for the group. Everyone wished the man a happy birthday and shortly there after the light turned green.

Before we cleared the second entrance to the shopping center to the right, we rolled by another cyclist who asked if we were the Las Vegas Group Rides group. Of course I said, “Nope we’re an Adobo Velo ride”.

The unknown cyclist replied, “Mind if I join you all?”

“Nope, not at all, get on up there!” I said and I looked down and spotted some new bike money. I would learn later that the rider was Will Johnson. He would eventually go on up the road and get hooked up with the rest of the gang. At the end of the day when I had the chance to talk to him it seemed he had a genuinely good time with the group.

I spent most of the ride sweeping the group and making sure we all finished without issue. I did get a chance to put in a solid effort on the climb to the top of the gun range. It served as a brief change of pace which kept the blood flowing and heart pumping. I did get to have some great conversations with Tony and Herbie on and off in between getting separated. Overall the “main” part of the ride went off without a hitch.

I had thought of doing a Red Rock Flyby once we returned to West Tech; however, Tony had been fading on and off near the end and I decided to go ahead and roll with him back to Pedal & Pour. I had already told Boots and Kant the same and we all met up there to enjoy some coffee and snacks.

While we were there Boots dropped the bomb that she had stopped and saved her partial ride at West Tech, and was now some 20 miles light on her ride. She professed it wasn’t a big deal, but I was having none of it. I have her nothing but grief that if the ride was uploaded and anything less than 100 on Strava it didn’t count. I continued on with mentioning that I would need to rename this ride to match the name as the others. It was all in good fun and eventually we hooked up with Dave and Kant to ride north back through south Summerlin. My only request was for us to take a different route than what we’d already ridden during the day and they agreed.

It’s at this point the overall ride has two very distinct parts. Up until this point I was at 94 miles while averaging only 165 or so watts. The second “half”, or from Pedal & Pour home, was another 50 miles with an average of 215 watts. Clearly two very different rides. I had fun really pushing things with Boots, Dave, and Kant between Pedal & Pour and the intersection of the Beltway Trail and Charleston. Honestly I was feeling great and just wanted to get some hard work put in.

After saying our goodbyes, first to Kant at Summerlin Centre and then Dave at Charleston, Boots and I set off for a flyby before continuing on home. Starting the long climb to the overlook I started pushing again in hopes of another solid effort, but the long day, despite how easy it was, got the better of me and I couldn’t hold my goal. I decided to dial it back and even made a quick stop for a photo op with the adopt-a-highway sign for the fun of it.

Boots and I skipped stopping at the overlook and just cruised on for home. Similarly to last week, the legs would come and go. Eventually I asked Boots if she wanted to continue south on Las Vegas Blvd or go the more direct route to Starbucks via Cactus and Sunridge Heights. She opted for the latter and honestly it was the right call. When we arrived at Starbucks I was feeling pretty well cooked and ready for a rest. Both of us were surprised by exactly how late it was. Regardless, we ordered our coffee and snack and took advantage of the wonderful weather and enjoyed our time on the patio.

40 minutes or so later it was time to call it a day and wrap up the ride. Boots and I parted ways like we always do at Via Firenze and Via Contessa leaving me to tackle the final three miles and 350 feet solo. After a hard push up Democracy, I brought it home to finish the day just a hair over 140. Another awesome day and awesome ride. Oh, I nearly forgot! The first Saturday group ride to start and finish in full summer kit! Woot woot!

New bike fund: $90.95 (+$1.27), €1.52 (+€0.00), ₱10.00 (+₱0.00), ֏10.00 (+֏0.00)
0.2 new miles — From Wandrer.earth
739 total shifts, 95 front, 644 rear. 77.7% of the ride in the big ring, 22.3% in the small ring. Most time spent in 52×21, 16.7% — by di2stats.com
744 vehicles @ 5.2 per mile, 1.3 per minute, Speeds: 36.5 mph (avg), 76.2 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Give your activities the names they deserve. — by Bandok.com
Cloudy-Mostly sunny, 56°F-79°F, Feels like 57°F-81°F, Humidity 28%-14%, Wind W 3mph-NE 2mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock.com Report —
Weather Impact™: -0.9%
Headwind: 44% @ 4.1 – 9.5 mph
Longest Headwind: 53m 15s
Air Speed: 12.3 mph
Temp: 75.5 °F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
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