Road Trip Ride #6; Bootleg Canyon, Boulder City, NV

Boulder City, lying east of Las Vegas, is the home of the Hoover Dam and Bootleg Canyon.  The two share more than just geography; the many miles of mountain-bike trails located within the Canyon are based on the smuggling routes of bootleggers during Prohibition who provided booze to the area during the construction of the dam.  The area is now home to many cross-country, down-hill and dual-slalom mountain-bike trails which often serve as the test-track for the thousands of industry folk who flock to Las Vegas each fall for Interbike.

Dropping by All Mountain Cyclery, Reilly and I chatted with Tom about the local trails and the best routes to take.  Leaving the shop, Reilly and I commented to ourselves how Tom seemed to gloss over the Mother Trail which extended beyond the map he provided as “just some other XC riding.”  Yup, we’d be sure to check out that trail, especially since it added about an additional 12 miles to the otherwise shorter trails/loops.

Monday morning after a hearty breakfast we suited up and hit the trails.  Starting on the West Leg, we then road the Caldera loop clockwise, up Boy Scout, down Skyline and north along Inner Caldera.  There we chose to ride Mother and see what she was all about.  Boy, were we pleased!  With no options for cutting the trail short, Mother was hard work; certainly not geared for those who take shuttles to the top of the down-hill runs.  Like most of the Bootleg Canyon Trails, Mother reminded us a great deal of riding in south-west Texas.  Narrow bench-cut single-track; steep, loose climbs with equally as steep yet technical descents; mountain-side traverses and rock-covered ridges;  the desert’s barren beauty and our broad smiles.  However, those smiles did also include a few grimaces.

During our last ride I noticed the quality of my shifting degenerating.  Well, today things got worse; not really bad but certainly requiring some attention at ride’s end.  While my drive-train was causing me a bit of frustration, it was Reilly’s bike who truly suffered.

For the past few days, Reilly’s fork had been leaking oil; the rebound cartridge had blown out.  While the fork was ridable, it was getting worse.  No big deal; he was already in touch with the Magura sales rep. about getting a new part sent ahead of us.  But even in the Nevada desert, when it rains it pours.

Early in the ride Reilly noticed how a piece of form-giving plastic near the nose of his saddle was broken, causing the saddle to sag when sat upon; the victim of his spectacular, near catastrophic bail a few days earlier.  Again, ridable, just not so comfortable.  Nearing the end of our ride, Reilly got a flat.  Again, no big deal, except that we soon discovered both the spare tubes in his kit had holes worn through them!  [a warning to all cyclists; tubes will vibrate in whatever bag you carry them, rubbing against whatever else may be in there, causing holes to develop.  Do yourself a favour and check your spare tubes regularly, esp. before a really big/solo ride]

Giving him one of my spare tubes he then realised his pump was broken.  With mine in hand, it would seem Reilly now owes me twice.  All resolved, we were back on the bikes riding some very technical, rocky, super-narrow bench-cut trails where there really is only one line.  It is two inches wide and if you don’t make it, a horrific bone-crushing tumble down a cliff-side awaits.  Now that’s mountain-biking!

Stopping after one of those adrenaline-pumping trails, Reilly pulled up beside me, complaining that his chain was stuck in his cassette.[the set of cogs on the back wheel]  Finally getting the chain free, he realised the issue; two of the cogs had broken free from the spider that holds them together!  They were just bouncing around!  Compelled to leave his bike in either of three gears, we knew our ride was done for the day.  Fortunately, we had just five minutes to ride before rolling down a hill to the waiting van.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/251485177

Bootleg Canyon Trail-head.

Las Vegas, as viewed from the back-side of “Mother”

Human Power Only

The Kundalini Yoga activities exhibited here help to raise the level of this vibration inside your body so as to obtain a difficult and viagra for women australia rigid erection. 100 % natural ingredients that create similar results include l-arginine, ginkgo biloba, and goat bud and pomegranate allergic acidity. Low Libido Low or loss acquisition de viagra of libido is one of the popular drugs used to treat ED. Saudi Dutest provides high quality products from best cialis without prescriptions manufacturers. Respectable internet pharmacists is going to continually give the named relief medication for you to pay for. tadalafil generic cheapest

End of ride.

Adding my mark

Ewwwwwww