I have to go to Las Vegas in March for a conference, so ... sounds like a good time for a bike vacation. I flew out of chilly OH very early on a Sunday morning (stupid time change) and landed in Vegas at 10:30am local time with warmth and sunshine. Actually more like searing heat and blinding sunshine. It is hard to believe there is a part of this country that can be this warm. These folks must be so soft!
I went straight to Las Vegas Cyclery to pick up my bike. After about 30 mins of fitting and paper work I was on my way. This place is great. I got a carbon stumpjumper with x7/x9 stuff on it. Not perfect, but pretty good for a rental bike. Only the brakes were a major letdown. They had a clean, good bike in working condition. And they had showers and dressing rooms which were a plus since I hadn't checked in to my hotel yet. I give them a thumbs up. 
I decided to head out on the west edge of town to the Red Rock area since it was very close to the shop. I started on the Blue Diamond trail system with about 8-10 miles of interweaving trails. I got across the street to the Cottonwood Canyon system. Luckily I bought a map which helped immensely find my way around. This is high dessert! All the ground is bone dry. Most of the trails are small and medium rocks, a lot like riding a single track gravel road. There were tons of fist sized and baby head sized rocks which made the footing loose in several places. Trails either crossed or ran with drainage washes which were full of soft sand or soft stones, again, more loose footing.
The elevation was more significant than I had anticipated. Las Vegas is at 3500', but the biggest mountains around the area can reach over 10k. The trails I rode were mostly between 3800 and 5000; high enough to get me breathing hard on the climbs. There was also a ton of wind on Day 2. Maybe steady 20mph with 30 mph gusts. It was significantly hard riding into it. And it was too windy in spots to get the map out; it simply fluttered about in the wind making it hard to read and easy to tear. It was also a bit chilly, especially with the sun tucked behind the clouds. But perfectly, the sun was
hidden for most of the climbing and out for most of the descending.
There are no trees up here so you can view the trails for miles around. The only thing obstructing views is the hills and other elevation changes. It is strange to be able to look down onto a big valley and see other riders coming up the trail still miles away. In the woods in the midwest, you usually don't see anyone until the last second. There were some cacti and joshua trees and such. Some tumble weeds but mostly sparse scrub plants. Fortunately I didn't see any thorns or goatheads or anything else like that. I did come across a herd of wild horses. These were big animals; no small ponies here. They seemed to ignore me and I was happy to pass them by without incident.
The trails were not super well marked. Some intersections had markings with a post, but no trail names. There were many other intersections with no markings at all. And a whole bunch of trails that were unmarked or bandit trails. Fortunately, with the wide open views, you had a good idea where the trails were going. I would have been very lost without the map ... lost in the sense of not knowing where I was on the map but not lost as in can't find my way back. As I went higher up in the back country, the trail markings became more sparse.
I ended up with 35 miles on Day 1 and another 20 miles on Day 2. Two good weekend rides on dry dirt with shorts.
