Outside Las Vegas, an Ace of a Bike Trail

By MATT VILLANO

As the desert sun neared its apex and Lake Mead glittered against the brown desert, the water break I was taking on Nevada’s newest bike trail was interrupted by a couple of fellow riders.

After some innocuous banter (nice day; nope, can’t believe how hot it is) the two middle-aged bikers reported traffic on the route was lighter than usual — an indication this was not the first time they had pedaled the River Mountains Trail (rivermountainstrail.com), a 35-mile ribbon outside Las Vegas that circumscribes the River Mountains, connecting Boulder City, Henderson and the wilderness between.

Then the chat took a turn.

“How hard did you train for the Three Sisters?” one of the riders asked, referring to a stretch where the trail gains about 500 feet of elevation in less than a mile.

“Maybe a couple of spin classes here and there,” I responded.

“Well that part should be lots of fun for you,” the second bicyclist said.

To read the full article, please visit: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/travel/outside-las-vegas-the-river-mountains-trail-makes-a-scenic-ring.html?referer=