Viva Bike Vegas! (10/9/2010 Sat)

Friday is the drive down... Diva in tow... Off to Golden Nugget I go... Pumping new Les Mills tunes through my speakers: BodyPump, BodyCombat, BodyJam, BodyStep, BodyAttack, BodyFlow (then repeat - it is a long drive!). My Viva Bike Vegas team? Andy, Alex, Tiffany, and me. It's gonna be a great day :)

 The Viva Bike Vegas is a sold out ride benefitting the After-School All Stars Las Vegas and Nevada Cancer Institute. Participants can choose to ride 23, 50, or 115miles. The 115milers get a chance to ride over the newly constructed Hoover Dam Bridge Bypass... a once in a lifetime chance to ride over the bypass! The route takes us from Downtown Las Vegas, along Lake Mead, next to Hoover Dam, into the heart of Boulder City, across Henderson, into Southern Highlands, along side Mountains Edge, around Blue Diamond, and across Las Vegas as you return back Downtown.


Saturday is THE ride... Mass Start at 6:30am. The air is cool so we know it's gonna be a warm day. It was awesome to have police guiding us through intersection after intersection as we rode through town... now, why can't I always have that kind of treatment? haha!  Just as we came out of town, it opened up into gorgeousness! It's breathtaking, special, and amazing... this is why I ride.... 

1st rest stop.... MOB scene!! Ok, I'm so not stopping. Five portables for hundreds of riders? Right. However, coffee runneth through me... Luckily, I ran into a lady who is a Las Vegas local and we rode off to a little public restroom within the park itself. A very interesting way to meet people, but that's just how it is  :) We chatted and rode past Lake Mead and then I took off... 

Lake Mead on the horizon

Next special attraction, Hoover Dam bridge bypass.


So far the ride has been amazing... those crazy hills in California provided me with some awesome training as I passed people on the hills who weren't really used to steeper climbs for a long duration. I had guys ride with me saying they needed someone to pace them... and then they'd drop off. OK, I'm feeling VERY strong.


There is a rest stop right before the entrance to the bridge bypass and I meet up with Alex and Andy. It's a great ride to the bridge, but the walls are so high, I can't see anything... a bit anticlimactic. The ride deadends and there are a ton of us taking pictures and looking over the wall before heading back out. I had to stand on my tip-toes to see over the wall. Thank goodness for tall Andy. He took my pictures for me so I didn't have a big ol' rail smack dab in the middle of my supposed beautiful view of Hoover Dam. 

Hoover Dam from the Hoover Dam bridge bypass... over a tall wall

Time to go back. We go back over the bridge and continue a very scenic ride. It's pretty hot at this point and there are cyclists on the side of the road overheating. I asked a few of them if they needed anything but they just needed to rest so I moved on. We rode through a lot of residential areas, a park, and then had lunch. The hard part of the ride started when we got to Southern Highlands and then to Mountains Edge. Headwind is horrible. Couple that with a mild 2% grade that goes on for miles. My legs were so tired! My injury, an old nagging injury from way back when that acts up if I ride more than 60miles in my left hip/lower back, decided to rear its ugly face and I had to stretch for a little bit. Hopped back onto my bike, and rode into Red Rock Canyon. 

Pretty! It was nice to see a little more color after riding through green speckled beige for miles on end. The ride continued for another 10miles through headwind and then back into Las Vegas... To the finish line... where Outback Steakhouse catered food awaited us. Andy finished a little earlier and I waited for Alex finish his first Century ride. 115miles, 5710' total ascent. We did it!!!!  

Alex's first Century. Congrats, Alex!!!

If you'd like to see more Viva Bike Vegas 2010 photos, visit my Facebook Album!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097637&id=1379574757&l=6f48321adc