KONA & The Mountain Man Tackle the Desert

I love mountain biking!  Some many years ago my Great Uncle Farren left me a sum of money in his will which allowed me to purchase one hell of a machine, the KONA Lava Dome!  I knew from experience that I needed a bike that could handle a lot of abuse, would be enjoyable to ride, and would last me for a long, long time.  I had had a bike for years when I was in Fredericton, a heavy, Canadian Tire machine called the Free Spirit.  I was young and could push that tank wherever it needed to go, but after trying out a few of my friends' more expensive bikes, I realized the physical toll my bike was taking on body and the limitations of cheap machines.  Some years later, I was living in Ottawa and ended up moving from the downtown area to the outskirts of town, right next to the city's designated Greenbelt.  I missed my bike riding days a lot and was all of a sudden in desperate need of another form of transportation.  The money from my Great Uncle came from out of the blue just when I really needed it, and so I went shopping.  Though it was an expensive purchase I knew immediately, on that very first test run that that bike would be coming home with me, despite its' purple color which I despised.  The KONA was a tough, well built machine, and the ride got me right away.  I reasoned of its ugliness, 'At least no one would want to steal it' or, 'At least they will be able to find me if we end up at the bottom of a ravine in the woods somewhere'.  I named her 'The Purple People Eater' because I knew that blood would be spilt over her, and I was right.  I have a history of accidents.

I know that one should never ride a bicycle drunk.  But I am supremely confident in my skills as a rider, and so I take that risk when I have to.  I also know that I am accident prone in even the safest of conditions.  For instance, arriving home last week after my intense excursion into the desert I was maybe 50feet from my front door when suddenly, my front tire veered off the smooth, curvy paved walkway and jack-knifed into the crushed rock and crashed into a bush, stopping the bike completely in its tracks and slamming my nuts into the steering column.  At least if I'm drunk there's a good explanation for it, like barreling into an unlit sidewalk-construction zone at 2 in the morning.  That's reasonable.  But I've had the same sort of spills on dead-sober sunny days, ripping and tumbling and bleeding for no other reason than my own ill fated existence.  I'm a damn'd good rider, but these things tend to happen to me alot so I've learned to always wear a helmet and never trust that its just a simple ride to the cornerstore!

On my first ride in Vegas, I tackled a mountainous single path, the Anthem East Trailhead starting out from the Del E. Webb middle school.  Immediately the hot desert air sucked my mouth dry and I couldn't catch my breath.  I am out of shape right now, and the super cheap beer down here isn't helping my fitness level any.  The heat was intense, and I knew right away that I hadn't brought enough water to see this through.  I wasn't sure where the trail would lead me, I just knew that I was going to the top of the hill.  The signs warned, 'This is Rattlesnake Country', to stay on the trails and venture up there at night at your own risk when the snakes are known to come out onto the paved path.  Beyond the paved trail the single track became a narrow sandy trail with rocks sticking out in every direction.  It was a long, tough climb.  Outside of the track is a no-man's land of dead scrub-brush, small sickly-looking cactuses and billions of chunks of black, volcanic rock of all sizes that completely cover the whole landscape of Vegas.  I will have to do some geological research on this.  There was a massive volcanic eruption here at one time which spewed billions of blackened rocks across the desert.  They are mostly smooth and soft looking with bubbles that resemble an AREO bar of all sizes up to about the size of a kitchen table.  Some look as though they are painted light brown on the bottom, which upon closer inspection is an entirely different rock form, the ancient seabed which has now become the desert rockbed, concrete, jagged and deadly.  You don't want to fall off your bike onto any of these rocks or any of these desert plants.  Not like back in New Brunswick where the forest can be a little forgiving to dismounted riders.  There are no good places to land here.

The trail twisted and turned, up and up til I finally reached the summit... of this hill.  I stopped to rest and looked out.  The hills before me stretched out forever, and the thin brown lines of trails stretched down across the valley and way out into the horizon.  There would be no following those trails on this machine today.  I made my way down into the valley then a long slog back up the other side to the top of another hill.  40mins in, I was done and had to resolve to come back another day.  I found a vehicle access road and began my journey home, a very steep descent!  The bike wanted to go fast but I kept the back brake almost locked up to maintain control, standing up on the pedals my legs burned like a skier, negotiating my line through the rocks carefully down over the steep slope.  Its the loose stuff that always gets ya!  When all of a sudden your tires get bogged and slide in unknown directions.  But, I'm happy to report there were no accidents on this day and I safely returned home.

On my second ride out I decided to head south on Sunridge Heights to Fleischman St where it dumps into the desert.  I wanted to see how long it would take me to get to the 'M' casino on bike, southwest as the crow flies.  I mapped it out my excursion beforehand so I knew my return route, very important for this directionally-challenged Mountain Man.  This tangent towards the 'M' would take me straight across the black rocked desert that skirts the Executive Airport and St. Rose parkway, a route I knew would be tough going.  It is a damn'd good thing I have a bike worthy of taking the punishment I dish out, because this desert ride was probably the most intense riding I've done in a long time.  It was a task of insanity, nobody in their right mind would ever choose to go this route to reach that meaningless goal.  But I like the challenge, the workout, and was curious about the landscape.  This is the same section of land which I'd seen the coyotes a few weeks before but I didnt' see them this time.  I suprised many lizards along the way, spotted a very small owl who watched me intently, and was shocked by a giant hare that scared the hell out of me when he bolted out of the bushes in massive, zigzagging, 20foot hops!  I actually thought it was a small white-tailed deer at first, not much smaller than my dog Clancy.  A Jackalope!!  For nearly 2hrs I pushed and grinded my way over the boulders of no-man's land and across the desert til I finally came to the casino.  I was drained, I bought a hot dog and some water at the gas station to refuel and returned home on the paved bike pathway.  It only took 25mins to get back home.  This ride too, was without incident until I reached the safety of the complex and somehow lost control on the curved walkway and ended up jamming my nuts into the steering column.  Ah well, such is life.

Thanks for reading.