Moonlight Madness!!!!

I spent about 15 seconds trying to figure out if the moon was even out last night, but it didn't matter - the inaugural Chasqui Cycling Moonlight Madness ride was the funnest ride I've ever been on. Chasquis Heather, Morgan, Weintzy (Mike) and myself all met at the Rachel's Kitchen parking lot (215 & Town Center) at 10 pm last night for an urban assault session.

Weintzy lives right down the street from the meeting point, and when he showed up in his pink jersey, red socks and blue bibs (all with tights underneath), Morgan and I weren't sure if it was really him or if we had somehow won a free evening ride with Roberto Visentini. Heather rolled up like a bat out of hell right behind Weintzy. We strapped on our gear, turned on our head and tail lights and we were off.

The ride started off heading north on Town Center right into the heart of Summerlin. I'm not sure if we had a bit of a tailwind or if we were all just amped to be out there, cause we were cruising at about 17 mph, which is pretty well above my flat road average speed. We stayed on Town Center for about 3.5 miles until we got to Anasazi and hung a left as four teenagers yelled at us and chased us with a lightsaver...yes - a Star Wars lightsaver. From there, we stayed on Anasazi for a bit, crossing Summerlin Parkway and Lake Mead and entering Sun City, the location of the hill that we were feeling pumped up and primed to climb.

About a half-mile into Sun City, lies Thomas W Ryan Blvd, which loops back to almost the top of Lake Mead. Thomas W Ryan climbs about 300 feet in just less than a mile...a pretty steep hill for me, and not something that I was quite ready for. We weren't 20 ft into the climb before Weintzy was out of the saddle and pumping his way up. Having none of that, Morg warned, "You got a long ways to go, bro!" Humbled, Mike sat back down and he and Morgan cruised to the top with relative ease. It was pretty cool to see. I fell a few hundred feet behind them, and Heather remained steady a hundred feet or so ahead of me. It was a tough climb, but it was some good climbing practice - in and out of the saddle.

Like true gentlemen in a true gentleman's sport, Morgan and Mike circled at the top of the hill and waited for Heather and I to catch up (of course, they're both a little older, so they may have needed a second to catch their breath.). We had a quick discussion as to whether or not to do the climb once more. The decision resulted in the affirmative and we made our way down Lake Mead Boulevard, which, by the way, is a downhiller's dream, dropping 200 feet in about a mile. We re-entered Sun City and did the climb again, and we all did a much better job this time.

As we arrived at the top this time, we made sure to take a second and enjoy the view of the entire lit up Las Vegas Valley - Strip and all. It was awesome. We noodled our way back to the parking lot, small-talking it up, sprinting every now and then for giggles and talking about what a rad experience this was. Seriously - no cars, no wind, no better night for a ride.

Since it was such a great experience, it is going to be a monthly tradition on Team Chasqui. Maybe every second Friday or Saturday night, we can have Team Chasqui moonlight madness. Chasqui Running can show up and do an hour-long-or-so running loop, while the cycling Chasquis do their thing.

Hopefully something like this will bring all the Chasquis out of their nooks and crannies for some team unity and awesome fun.