And this cycling sweet spot is just a few miles from the Las Vegas Strip.
I wanted to jump-start the cycling season with a couple of weeks of riding far from February’s snow. Flights to Vegas were as cheap as the hotels, and the weather sealed the deal. I don’t gamble, I don’t gorge at buffets, and I don’t have any interest in fading stars croaking tired hits, so this city was not an obvious choice. I had no idea I was about to experience some of my best riding ever.
Just outside Vegas, the River Mountain trail carves through the mountains, a scraggly patch of near-barren hills, windswept and desolate. Cyclists dip through tunnels constructed just for them to slip under the occasional roadway. Rolling into the trail’s Boulder City section riders find a series of concrete drainage ditches built not for bikes, but to carry away the waters of infrequent but dangerous flash floods. Signs warn off cyclists in case of rain. And would a bike trail near Las Vegas be complete without a close encounter with a casino? The Railroad Pass Casino sits between the trail and the Great Basin Highway south of Henderson, a Vegas suburb.
The desert winds and the rolling hills turn this trail into a workout for anyone determined to keep a fast pace for the entirety. One day a tailwind pushes me down a long 3 percent grade at speeds over 40 miles per hour with little effort, the next day a headwind in the same place slows me to under 20. Water and food are unavailable on the trail, but easily found on brief detours. Bathrooms are spaced at regular intervals.
The most scenic parts of the loop run off the Lake Mead Parkway in Henderson and wind through the hills overlooking the lake. Along the way, mile markers provide guides while informational displays recount the history and environment of the region. A small section of the trail a few miles long remains unfinished, and riders complete the loop on the parkway, which at that point is a low-traffic road with a wide bike lane.
