Date: Saturday, December 12Meet time: 9:00 a.m.
Ride-out time: 9:30 a.m.
Meeting place: Fiesta Henderson, 777 West Lake Mead Parkway (map)
City: Henderson, Nevada
Rain policy: Rain cancels; make-up date is Dec. 13
Pace: 2 - medium pace
Terrain: 3 - rolling hills with some steep climbs
Miles: 43
Today's ride starts again on the Union Pacific Trail, but today we'll turn off the trail after only about a mile and then gradually climb up Greenway Road into the Paradise Hills area for a little early fun on the rolling hills of this residential area.
Next, we'll pick up the River Mountains Loop Trail and head west up and over Railroad Pass, alongside U.S. 93, and into the outskirts of Boulder City. We'll do a big loop around the city, starting with a long and gradual descent toward the airport and continuing with a gentle climb up Georgia Avenue and over to the Nevada Way historic district and our first rest stop at mile 18.
After that, we'll explore a little more of the city before making our way over to U.S. 93 for a descent of more than 3 miles and about 900 feet into the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. If we descend that much, we of course have to climb that much ... but we'll climb much of the way back on the much gentler (and, therefore a little longer) River Mountains Trail. We eventually have to do some of the climb on U.S. 93 (the flood channel doubles as the bike path, so we might use that if it hasn't been raining), and we'll take another rest stop partway up the hill at mile 30.
We'll take Industrial Road to bypass the steepest and highest part of the River Mountains Trail (don't worry, that's coming up on a future ride), and we'll eventually pick up the trail again for the short climb back over Railroad Pass. After that, the final 8 miles of the ride are almost all gently downhill!
Ride With GPS reports about 2,400 feet of climbing for this ride. Toilets, water, and a Starbucks (of course) are available inside the Fiesta. Park and meet in the rear parking lot partway up the hill on Fiesta Henderson Blvd. just past the parking garage, toward the train tracks.
Click here to RSVP now
Please RSVP so I can plan appropriately.
