Tour de Lake Mead
By Larry Lagarde

On Tuesday, I arose before dawn so I could make the 6:30 am bus from the Sands Convention Center to Bootleg Canyon. The Tour de Lake Mead was to begin promptly at 8 am and I didn't want to miss the big start.

In my hasty rush to the airport the day before, I had forgotten to pack sun block. With blond hair and blue eyes, I'm very sun sensitive so I slipped some long pants over my bike shorts and pedaled the Birdy Monocoque over to the Sands Convention Center.

Due to the early hour, the line to board the bus for the Outdoor Demo at Bootleg Canyon was short so I took a moment to fold the Birdy and place it inside the carry bag. I knew the bike would be getting quite dusty later but it was a loaner and I didn't want it to get scratched in the belly of the bus. I gratefully accepted the Outdoor Demo goodie bag as well as two of the free sports drinks, signed the waiver form and boarded the bus.

I found a window seat at the rear of the bus and settled in for the half hour ride to Boulder City (home of Bootleg Canyon). Above my head, video from a recent bike race was playing. The race was in an alpine area in Europe. The pavement there was wet and the lead racer lost traction, fell to the pavement and slid. Luckily, his team's pace car was close behind. Someone jumped from the pace car, handed a spare bike to the downed racer, gave him a push and away he went.

As I watched the race footage, another attendee took the seat beside me and we introduced ourselves. His name was Adrian Zahl and he was attending Interbike on behalf of Rideout and Maybee, a law firm located in Ottawa, Canada. Recalling that Interbike's seminar lineup included a talk on liability, I asked whether that was his specialty. Surprisingly, I learned that he specialized in international patent law.

During the ride to the canyon, I learned that patent laws around the world are largely based on the patent laws of the USA. More importantly, Adrian explained that patent laws have become so strict in China that a phone call to the patent ministry could be all it takes to shut down a maker of knock off Strida folding bikes (I'm sure this will make Mark Sanders quite happy).

While talking with Adrian, I rifled through the goodie bag hoping to find some sun block. Apparently, the recession had struck Interbike too because no sun block was to be found. Oh well. Surely, one of the vendors at the Demo would have some, right?

After a couple of wrong turns and a trip through an Albertson's parking lot, the bus driver delivered us to the Outdoor Demo drop zone. I was the last from the bus and thanked him for the smooth ride. The driver opened the luggage bin and apologized for getting lost, saying "I'm from California and we just got in."

I scooped up the polished silver Birdy Monocoque and slung it over my shoulder. As I walked away, the driver shouted "hey, someone forgot their bike." I told him not to worry. The Lake Mead ride was soon to begin so whoever left that yellow racer would quickly realize their mistake.

I breezed over to the Outdoor Demo's left luggage tent and off loaded the carry and goodie bags. I then biked slowly through masses of people that were already at the demo. Scanning the booths along the route to the start of the ride, I was disappointed not to see anyone giving out sunblock. I'd just need to keep the long pants on as long as I could stand it.

I reached the starting line just seconds before the tour began. A gal was barking some last minute instructions to the crowd. Suddenly, someone said "Go" and the peloton of bikes began to move. The sound of shoes clipping into pedals permeated the air.

I attempted to film the start but the sun was quite bright and I was moving with the pack. Since I couldn't see the view screen, I simply held the Vado digital video camera in the air and hoped for the best. The Vado is light and small but it's also easy to accidentally hit the record button when holding the camera (especially when gripping the handlebar of a bicycle). Suffice it to say that all the video I shot on the ride was rubbish. Ugh.

The entire ride to Lake Mead National Recreation Area was downhill with some grades exceeding 8%. Even though I had the handlebars adjusted somewhat high (definitely higher than everyone on road bikes), the light and rigid Birdy folding bike moved like a rocket. To reduce drag, I tucked down as best I could. At several points, I easily exceeded 30 mph. Man, I wish the batteries on my Garmin 305 weren't dead as it would have been fun to see my top speed.

Once we entered the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the views became really beautiful. On the right was Lake Mead with it's white bathtub ring and rocky islands popping out everywhere. On the left were stark, rocky ravines, outcrops and mountains in varying shades of brown, tan, orange and black.

Before I knew it, we had traveled 12 miles to the turning point, a panoramic overlook of Lake Mead. I rode beyond the queue of cyclists waiting for refreshments and shot the following photos of the Birdy folding bike.

Between the dry desert air, the wind and the sun, I could feel the moisture being sucked from my body. I gulped down an entire energy drink in 30 seconds, peeled off my long pants and got right back into the saddle. Three guys asked me to shoot their photo and I obliged. Then one of the trio asked "are you going to ride that back?" I said "you bet" and pedaled away.

On the ride to the overlook, I had noticed a bike trail meandering back and forth. Since I was riding alone, I thought it would be more pleasant to ride the trail than the highway. I'm glad I chose the bike trail because the traffic on the highway became progressively heavier as the day wore on and the grind up the grade was quite slow.

By the time I reached the entrance gate to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the fact that I skipped breakfast began to creep up on me. I finished off my water bottle and sucked on cough drops until I entered the outskirts of Boulder City. There was a gas station and convenience store next to the bike trail so I pulled in for some snacks. I grabbed a Mountain Dew, 2 Pay Day's a trail bar and some gummies. That was breakfast.

The attempted to pedal into the Outdoor Demo via the parking lot but between the loose gravel, the Birdy's granny gear and the cars pouring into the site, I walked the bike about 50-100' through the strongest grade. Once it leveled out, I rode the bike through the parking lot and into the demo. My thighs were spent and on the verge of cramping though.

I wheeled slowly around the demo checking out booth after booth. Finally, I stopped for a chat at the Brompton booth. I decided to take a spin on one of the Bromptons. It was outfitted with a Brompton branded Sturmey Archer 3 speed internal hub with an additional external cog (making it a 6 speed). Unfortunately, only after I began climbing an 8% slope did I realize that I could not shift gears while pedaling. I was in top gear and my thighs were beat. My legs seized. Oh the pain!

Both thighs were a clump of hard clamped muscles. I stopped the bike and attempted to stand but other muscle groups in my legs began to cramp too. Even muscles in my feet were cramping. Basically, I had 2 choices: tough it out or fall to the concrete and straighten my legs until the muscles relaxed.
Gripping the brake levers so I would not roll backwards, I attempted to take weight off my legs by resting on the Brompton's low top tube. Slowly this helped. After what seemed to be an eternity but was just 5 minutes, the muscles relaxed enough for me to dismount and walk the bike up the hill.

Tomorrow:
Meeting the crew from Areaware and Pacific Cycles

Labels: Interbike2009, Outdoor-Demo, Tour-de-Lake-Mead

by Larry Lagarde

Early this morning, I arrived back from Las Vegas and the Interbike 2009 bicycle show. It was quite a week.

On Monday evening, I flew on Southwest Airlines from New Orleans to Las Vegas. I arrived late at the airport so I went straight to the gate. Slung over my shoulder (in a soft sided carry bag) was a brand new 9 speed Birdy Monocoque from Reise und Muller. Breezing through the TSA checkpoint with an approving smile from the security agent, I thought about carrying the Birdy folding bike on the plane like I've done with the smaller & lighter CarryMe folding bike. Since I was in the A boarding group, there would have been space in the overhead and it was a direct flight (so no shlepping the bike from one plane to another).

When it was my turn for the gate agent to scan my boarding pass, nothing was said about the folding bike but my pass would not scan so I had to leave the line and have another agent reprint my pass. Naturally, this put me way back in the boarding of the plane so I simply gate checked the bike. Three and a half hours later, I was in Vegas.

Once I claimed the Birdy from the checked bag belt, my idea was to ride the folding bike from the airport to Bally's Casino (my hotel on the Las Vegas Strip). Based on my experience last year, I expected to be at the hotel within 10 minutes but there were some complications.

Disoriented by the darkness (my flight arrived after 9pm), it took 10 minutes just to find the sidewalk leading from the airport. More importantly, the seat post would not drop into the frame (at some point during shipping, the Birdy folding bike must have been dropped on the frame tube where the seat post goes in) so I had to spend a good 20 minutes carefully working the tube wider with my air pump.

Once I got on the bike, the contrast was amazing. With a spin of the pedals, the noise, hustle & bustle of the airport was behind me. The sidewalk wound away from the arriving traffic and down below a small earthen berm with trees. The sprinklers in this pocket park were on; it was so quiet that I could hear the slight hiss of the water coming from the sprinkler heads. The mist felt comfortably cool.

The sidewalk ends at a street leading to employee and long term parking for the airport. I followed the street to the left for a nice night view of the Mandalay Bay, Circus Circus, the Pyramid and other landmarks on the strip. In the process, I gave walking directions to a European couple that was lost (hopefully, they opted for a taxi because it's a long walk from there to the Strip).

Apparently, the rechargeable AA batteries in my Dosun M1 bike light were getting low because the beam was dimmer than expected. The bike light did give me enough light to see obstructions but I rode the sidewalk against traffic for better visibility.

I had planned on taking back streets to Bally's Casino hotel; however, traffic on Las Vegas Blvd at 10 pm is so heavy that the cars are moving very slowly. Thus, I opted to ride the Strip in traffic and it was a good move. Not only did I get to see the Strip at full tilt (sidewalks packed with walkers and hawkers; traffic lanes stuffed with taxis and limos), I got to the hotel faster as well.

I rode right up to the main entrance for Bally's, dismounted and walked in. The check in line was very long so I used the Birdy as a mobile seat, resting the bicycle carry bag (containing my gear) on the frame.

Once it was my turn, the check in procedure went quickly and I was soon walking the bike through the casino to the hotel elevators. A security guard asked why so many bikes were in and around the hotel but no one gave me any problems about wheeling the bike through the whole casino.

Built in the early 70's, Bally's is one of the older casinos on this part of the Strip (Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jerry Lewis have all headlined here) so I was wondering what my room would be like. The room was clean and modern with a granite bath, granite desk overlooking huge picture windows and a super view of the Bellagio fountains as well as the Eifel Tower of Vegas at the adjacent Paris Hotel.

Tomorrow:
Riding the Birdy from Boulder City to Lake Mead & Back

Labels: Interbike2009, Las-Vegas-NV