LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA: Where Blue Water Cuts Through Barren Desert Hills

March 2, 2018

When I woke up at 2:00 a.m. I felt like hell. I ate four Fig Newtons and went back to sleep. At 5:00 a.m. I woke up again, turned on the TV and saw this:

Huh? Thirty to forty mile-per-hour winds with gusts up to 65 m.p.h.? Blowing sand? Me in a weakened state of sickness? "No thanks," I thought, "I'm not going to ride in that. I may be a tough guy, but I'm not an insane tough guy."

On the other hand, I remembered that I was in Searchlight, Nevada--a town that consists of this motel, a beef jerky shop, two gas stations, and a small casino. And I don't gamble. What would I do here for a full day?

Well, as I've said, I DO bet on sure things and there can be no safer bet than a quick, 14-mile, all downhill cycle ride down to the Colorado River/Lake Mead. A sure bet is braving a crosswind versus a headwind. A sure bet is that it will be significantly warmer at 600' of elevation than it is up here at 3,600 ft.

So a half-hour before check-out time I decided to start packing up my stuff, despite the fact that I still wasn't feeling all that great. And that, my friends, is what high stakes bike touring is all about.

Fueled by coffee, ibuprofen, Fig Newtons, and a big dose of anticipation, I headed down the Cottonwood Cove Road which leads absolutely nowhere except to the Cottonwood Cove area of Lake Mead. It's basically a 14-mile dead end.

Now that my cold is moving from my chest to my sinuses, I covered my nose with a bandana. It was an ingenious move on my part. Plus, it gave me that cool "outlaw" look.

My first glimpse of the blue waters of the Colorado River.

The ride was ridiculously easy, almost to the point of embarrassment. Quite literally, I really wouldn't have had to pedal even once from the outskirts of Searchlight all the way to Cottonwood Cove. I didn't have to brake either because there were no tricky switchbacks to deal with. Even the speed-moderating effects of the crosswind couldn't stop my momentum.

Best of all, with every mile of descent I could feel the concurrent warming of the air. In about 45 minutes I went from 43-degrees to 65-degrees. After setting up my tent, the temperature got up to 74-degrees. I WIN AGAIN!

Unfortunately, I have to climb back up this road again tomorrow. Oh well, I'll worry about that when the time comes.

A big contrail and a little contrail in a clear sky.

At night the stars were magnificent. So was the moonrise. So was the weather.

Today's ride: 16 miles (26 km)
Total: 122 miles (196 km)

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