Viva Bike Vegas 2010

Friday morning we loaded up our van and headed for Las Vegas! Obviously not for a weekend of drinking or gambling... we went for a weekend of bicycling!

Saturday morning Joe and I participated in Viva Bike Vegas. Emily and my parents also rode while my Grandpa Devereaux entertained the boys in his camper. The boys had a great time, and so did we!

This year the big draw for this bike ride was the chance to be one of the first to ride across the new Hoover Dam bypass bridge, which is not even open for traffic yet. Apparently only 800 people registered for Viva Bike Vegas last year, and this year there were well over 1500 registered! I admit that riding across the dam was one of the main reasons we decided to ride this year.

The ride started out early in the morning at 6:30 am! It was still dark when we got to the starting area. Here is a picture that Emily took of Joe and me. You can even see the Stratosphere in the background!

There were tons of people at the start of the ride. Emily and I were laughing because there was an Elvis impersonator and his showgirls performing at the announcers platform. Emily tried to get a photo of Elvis, but it turned out blurry. So I found a picture for her. Here's your Elvis, Emily!

The course turned out to be a bit more challenging than I expected. The beginning of the ride was great! We rode out of Las Vegas with police stopping traffic and it was downhill, fast and fun. Then the hill climbing began. It seemed that there were very few level parts of the course. You were either going up a hill or down one.  There was some beautiful scenery though!

Since Joe is faster than I am, he got to ride by himself while I rode with Emily. The funny thing is that before the ride she was talking herself down, saying she didn't know if she could keep up with me. Then she totally kicked my trash going up the hills and ended up in front of me for quite a while!

Of course that may have something to do with the fact that I am four months pregnant. Wait! You didn't know that? Well, now you do! I am due in March, so this will definitely be my last ride this year.

Here is a picture that Emily took of me just before we got to the bridge. In this picture you can definitely tell that I have a little baby bump going on!

The only part of the ride that was somewhat anticlimactic for me was actually riding across the bridge. We couldn't really see Hoover Dam or much at all while we were riding across the bridge because of the concrete barriers. Plus we didn't actually get to ride across the bridge. Only to the halfway point because we couldn't cross onto the Arizona side.

When we were on the bridge we had the opportunity to stand on a platform and have our pictures taken. Grandpa Devereaux was kind enough to purchase the photos for us, so here are the pictures of Joe, Emily and me.

In these pictures you can see Hoover Dam behind us. Pretty cool, huh?

Unfortunately my parents were not able to make it to the bridge. The course was really much more hilly than any of us expected. They persevered and managed to do 22 miles, which I thought was pretty great! The other bummer is that none of us managed to get any pictures of them at all!

So I managed to do the 42 miles I planned on. Joe did a great job, especially considering the fact that we didn't have much time to really train this year, what with the re-roofing of our house and his new job. He managed to complete about 84 miles before the heat and knee pain got to him.

When we caught up with Joe around mile 84 or so he was getting pretty hot and tired. To be honest I was a little relieved when he decided to call it a day.  Especially since the entire ride was actually 115 miles! Just thinking about it makes me tired... and I am not the only one.

It was a fun ride, but I think next year we will stick to the Tour de St. George and some of our other favorites. After I have the baby I hope to get riding again and complete my fifth century (100 miles) before the end of next year.