CW 2016

This past Sunday, I decided to bicycle the entire River Mountain Loop Trail. This is not a particularly unusual decision as I bike about 13 miles of the trail most days. However, what was unusual was that I awoke with the decision to bike the entire 36 mile trail. Last year, I biked it and I ended up completing it at sunset half dead. Literally, half dead.

The first decision is to circumnavigate the mountains clockwise or counter clockwise. Last year, for want of any intelligence, I chose to bicycle counter-clockwise. This year, after much thought I chose clockwise. The trail is marked with milestones at each half mile. I started at mile six. There are two main passes through the mountains. From mile six, if one traverses clockwise, one descends rapidly downhill through the "three bitches" at Lake Las Vegas. While if one takes the counterclockwise path, one descends rapidly downhill at Railroad Pass. Naively, one would think that since you have to end up in the same place after your cycle, the direction wouldn't make much difference. You would be wrong.

The basic reasoning is that if one chooses the counter clockwise route, one necessarily encounters the impossible climb of the "three bitches". These slopes are impossible. But if this year, I choose the clockwise path, I must make the same ascent. However, I can ascend gradually. Difficult, but do-able.

Or at least that was the plan...