Cycling in Vegas

A few years ago I was staying at the Luxor while I was setting up for a conference. The first evening I made the mistake of going out for a ride. After that I got up early a couple mornings and rode out to Red Rocks. Even in the morning I didn’t like the first mile but once I got away from the strip, the riding was great. There were giant bike lanes and Red Rocks is an amazing ride. In west Vegas I did get pegged in the back of the head with a part full bottle of water by some red neck in a pickup truck going about 50 mph. Fortunately it hit my helmet but I still had a headache for a couple hours.

The first mile is not for the faint-hearted, that’s correct, and when we rode the Strip we took up a lane to make sure we were there and visible — we had no problems, even got some cheers (the music from Rock the Bike helped that)

On streets like Tropicana, I popped onto the sidewalks.

Whenever I come to Vegas for work, I try to come in a day early, rent a bike from McGhie’s, and ride up to Red Rocks. Some great riding if you start out of the downtown mess.

Thanks for coming to vegas guys! It was great riding with you.

We’re not there yet, but vegas is getting more and more bike friendly all the time. Next time your in town, look me up and I’ll show you some other nice routes to take.

Marc Reisman

If there are any particularly good routes, in the range 60-100milers, would you mind posting them?

Hi Ben,

Where are you staying when your here? Let me know and I’ll send you a couple of options with some phenomemal scenery.

Marc

hey Marc,

I’m actually staying down on the SE side of town, on St Rose Pkyway (Highway 146) I think. I brought my bike down and will be riding on the weekend for sure! My work is this side of town, and will be for the next couple of months, so looking forward to getting some riding in while I’m here.

Also, can you recommend any bike shops? Almost certainly I’ve forgotten something… like my toolset…

If you like, contact me outside too, ben.cuttriss at g mail.com.

Thanks in advance :) Cheers, Ben

Ben - there’s a group ride in Henderson that meets at the Starbucks just North of the I-215 and Green Valley. There’s a faster racer-set group who goes out to Boulder City and does some interval loops out there as well.

http://www.greenvalleycyclists.org/

Thanks Ben,

I’ll shoot you an e-mail. There are some great options from where you are staying. Lake Mead is always popular along with the 60 mile (round trip) ride out to Jean, Nevada on the old Los Angeles freeway, and there’s always the anthem loop.

Also, If you haven’t ridden Red Rock Canyon you are definitely missing out on our most prized treasure here. The scenery is epic!

Hope to hear from you and hopefully we can hook up and ride.

Marc

Here’s another great site with info on riding in Southern Nevada.

http://www.luv2bike.com/trainingrides.html

Hello- Just happened to run into this site in my effort to find out if Vegas is bike friendly. I will be moving there for school in August and was wondering if it is possible to live off a commuter bike. I would like to avoid buying a car if at all possible… Thanks!