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Vegas, Baby!

Okay, had to say that … you know, cause that’s what people say.

I really haven’t had a chance to look around yet. I checked into my hotel and am relaxing for a bit. Not in a rush to tour the hotel or the city.

To be honest, I’m still taking in today’s ride.

Do you ever have those rides that don’t go as expected? You head out on the road, perhaps a typical ride, and before you know it, you are caught up in the ride. You’re mesmerized by how incredible it is.

Today was that kind of ride. When I left my hotel this morning, my plan was to get to Vegas as quick as I could. I’m meeting someone for supper, and I wanted to get here, unpack, settle a little, and then hook up with Mike.

I left last night’s hotel around 7:30 this morning. The sun was coming up and the view was quite beautiful. It was chilly, but not a big deal. The ride was nice, but I actually found myself thinking, “Well, once you’ve seen the mountains and cliffs that I’ve seen on this journey, this is no big deal.” I even laughed when I thought it, because before this trip had begun, today’s morning view would have been incredible. Again, you Westerners have no idea how spoiled you are.

It wasn’t until I turned onto the 190 (I think) and headed into Death Valley. Five minutes up the highway, and I realized just how alone I was. In fact, I pulled over and took a couple of pictures. One showing the view behind me, and the other showing the view in front of me:

It truly was incredible. In fact, I rode for about twenty minutes before I saw another vehicle. Soon after I took those pictures, I saw a sign warning me to slow down and to be prepared for a lot of curves over the next ten or twenty miles. Some of the curves had you slowing down to 15 mph (25 kmh). The first few curves, I found myself swerving into the other lane, or hitting the brakes hard.

But then I felt it. Some of you know what I’m going to talk about. The adrenaline rush. The excitement of hitting these curves at the highest level you can. I started rushing into the corners, taking up both lanes. Leaning hard. Now, that’s not a big deal if you’re riding an R1, but try doing it on a WideGlide that it loaded down with the gear I have on my bike! It was intense. It was exciting. A few times, I held my breath as I leaned over in the corner. About half way into the curves, I realized that many of them were covered in sand, and that slowed me down a bit.

I was going so fast that I caught up to three other bikers, riding deckers (baggers). I considered staying behind them and enjoying the company of a few other riders, but they were too nervous in the corners. I got bored too quickly, and so I passed them the first chance I got.

At the top of one hill, I pulled over and took this picture. I couldn’t believe how high up I was, and how close to the edge the road was. You can see the highway that I had just come up, and you might be able to pick out one or two of the dips in the road, but it’s not easy to see without something in the picture to give you the right perspective. All I can tell you is that black spot near the top left corner of the picture is a huge bolder. It was simply breath-taking.

After I was done with this riding, I entered into Nevada’s small portion of Death Valley. It is much more flat, and very windy. In fact, for about half an hour, I was riding while in a hard lean just to keep the bike straight. Twice I thought I felt my front tire lift a little from the wind, although I’m sure it was just my imagination. It was pretty intense though.

So, after a day of that kind of riding, Vegas is just a bunch of buildings and lights. Sure, it will be fun once my Twitter pals show up and we enjoy some biker festivities together, but no amount of “Sin City” can compare to the splendour of the open road and my ride.

Having said that, I probably wont blog too much over the next four or five days, since I’ll be simply staying put in Vegas. I’ll try to do an update once the show has started either Thursday or Friday.