Viva Las Vegas

Last week, I went to Vegas for a few days for a work thing. Pretty much a bunch of lawyers patting each other on the backs and telling each other how great we are. Good times. I decided to drive, mainly so I could bring a bike along. Following the ways of Fish's recent post, if one is good, two must be better... so I brought two.

Although I'm sure your dying to hear the play by play of the conference I attended, I'm going to share a few stories about riding my bike during my trip instead.

The first contains some material that you can use during the next time you have the "cycling talk" with your spouse/significant other. You know, the one where your wife complains about the time/money spent on cycling, and you tell her that you could always look into different hobbies, like buying expensive cars, playing online video games, sport stacking, etc.

I was sitting around a table with some guys from a firm out east after some meetings. We were joking around and laughing, so I think the guys felt pretty comfortable with me. They weren't able to stick around for too long though, because they had some big plans to go to a "gentleman's club" for the evening. Since we were buddies now, they figured they'd invite me to come along. After all, what better way to develop new clients than to sit around watching a bunch of strippers together? Apparently, I'm not much of a gentleman, because I told them I was going on a bike ride instead. I think they thought I was joking at first, but soon realized that I indeed was crazy enough to pass on the strip club in favor of riding a bike around. A few awkward moments later (awkward for them anyway - I was thoroughly enjoying this), they got up and headed to the club. I headed up to my hotel room to grab my stuff and go for a ride. Ironically, while I was getting my things together I looked out my window, which overlooks the "21-and-older" pool/bar area, and I couldn't help but notice two girls dancing around topless in the pool. They were surrounded by some guys that appeared to be involved in a "flexing party." I never get invited to those. Anyway, I made it out for a nice ride in the Cottonwood Loop trail system outside of Vegas, which ended up being much better than expected. I guess you could say that between the view from my hotel room and the mountain bike ride, I unintentionally got the best of both worlds. But I'll tell you what. The next time I have the "cycling talk" with my wife, I plan on pointing out what non-mountain-bikers do on their business trips rather than riding their bikes. And I'm absolutely sure that if you aren't busy mountain biking, then you must be going to strip clubs - I mean, what else is there to do in Vegas?

The next day, I was able to get out for a road ride near the resort. The ride was pretty uneventful until just before I was about to wrap things up. I was stopped at a red light and was in the middle of a picture-perfect trackstand when a lady pulled up behind me and we had the following conversation:

Her: Does the law require you to wear a helmet when you ride a bike?
Me: I can't speak for Nevada, but I'm pretty sure Utah does not legally require you to wear a helmet (correct me if I'm wrong here, but last I heard, the effort to require helmets has not become a law yet).
Her: I used to ride bikes back in college.
Me: You should pick it up again.
Her: Yeah, it sure helps keep your butt tone.
Me (knowing full well that "your" meant humankind in general and not me in particular): Thanks! I'm glad you like it!

The light turned green, and so did she. I rode off while she tried to clarify, but it was too late.

Good times in Vegas.