Vegas Baby!

Yesterday we got to play tourists! We left Lake Mead and parked in Vegas near the Strip then walked for 2 miles to find the Cheesecake Factory. Then after eating we explored the enormous casinos with their endless maze of slot machines and poker tables, watched a street show of pirates taking over a ship (with a cheesy story, dancing, and music) witnessed statues moving and coming to life, an indoor theme park, and a volcano erupting. Funny that we walked for about 6 miles total and I felt much more tired than after my 12 mile run that morning.

On our search for the Cheesecake Factory, we stopped at one of the ships where they stage their nightly outside street show.

The Cheesecake Factory is one of my favorite restaurants! We haven't eaten out for over a month, so this was a real treat. We filled up on a dinner of 5 appetizers: Popcorn shrimp, crab wontons, nachos with salsa and guacamole, sweet corn tamales, and onion rings. Just enough fuel for the next 4 miles of walking!

This is one of the moving statues. They were 7 feet tall and rose out of the pedestal next to our table at the Cheesecake Factory in Caesar's Palace. Those statues had voices and told the story of the fall of Atlantis, complete with spitting fire, steam, and light effects. Then after their story they would disappear back inside the pedestal. Pretty cool.

The Treasure Island Casino and Hotel.

This is the Palazzo Casino and Hotel.

Vegas gets even busier at night. This is my first time to be right in the middle of a large city and it was entertaining!

This is the Venetian Casino. Amongst the others, this was noticeably fancier. Inside there were high ceilings with paintings on them like you would find in Rome or Venice or some other ancient city.

This was our last stop before footing it back to the RV. The Mirage Volcano erupts hourly every night. Very cool effects with water and colored lighting and fire.

Bootleg Canyon

Today we visited Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, Nevada. Bootleg Canyon is famous for its extremely fast and wild downhill mountain bike trails. Even world champion downhillers have said that their trails are one of the hardest trails in the world to ride.
However, to avoid being one of the blood donors to Bootleg Canyon, we skipped the downhill trails and instead rode the thin singletrack cross-country bike trails that snaked alongside the canyon.

These trails were designed well, looked like they made an effort not to cut too much into the mountain to make trails, but followed the contours of the ridges and canyon walls. This is a fun area to ride, with lots of trails to choose from.

This trail had everything, ups and downs and loose gravel and rocks, and the constant fear of falling down the canyon side.

Dad took these pictures of the plants that often dotted Bootleg Canyon amongst the usual desert shrubbery.

Sometimes, riding a section of singletrack was out of the question.

Race pictures

My first Xterra of the season went better than expected! It was fun to get out there and race again, all went great! I was feeling much stronger coming off the bike on this race than at Lavaman 4 weeks ago.Dad and I before the race start. Dad was doing his own race too, a duathlon that was about half of the length of my race, but with another run instead of a swim.

Dad took off about 30 minutes before my race started.

I was in the 2nd wave start consisting of men's age groups 15 thru 49.

This is me coming out of the water. The start was a little hectic at first, but everything went good.
Coming out of the water and on to the bike.

Dad coming off his 9 mile bike after a 1.8 mile run.

Dad back on to his next run. 3.1 miles.

Dad finishing strong! He got 2nd place overall in the Duathlon.

Me after my 2nd lap of the 18.6 mile bike course consisting of two 9 mile loops.

Off the bike and on to the 6.2 mile run and feeling great!

This is the first race that was not a sprint that I have finished feeling strong and I was really happy with that.

From left: Mom, Melanie McQuaid (2nd place women's overall), me and Conrad Stoltz.

Mom and I talking to Shonny Vanlandingham, the women's overall winner. She's a really cool person!I'm qualified to race in the Xterra World Championship in Maui because I finished first in my age group. I know there wasn't any other kids, but first is still first! Top overall pros. Conrad Stoltz and Shonny Vanlandingham. Conrad destroyed the race today!

Race day tomorrow!

I pre-rode the bike course today one more time just to give it a good look over. Everything was looking good, couple of gnarly descents but good otherwise. I also felt strong on my run after the bike. I'm feeling prepared and ready to race!

My front tire blew out on one of the nasty descents behind me because of too low of air pressure. I just found out that my pump gauge wasn't accurate.

Conrad gave me a pre race pep talk and it helped a lot! He's had many years of experience and racing and any advice of his is to be valued.

He's ready to race too, as you can see he's rockin' his sweet Avia sponsored outfit.

Photo Shoot

Today I pre-rode the bike course for the Xterra Las Vegas race on Sunday to familiarize myself with the terrain. Its quite the Xterra type course, there are a few steep hills that you have to walk, also some rough patches that I did not expect on the downhills and I have the scrapes to prove it! So my plan for the race, since I'm a better climber than a downhiller right now, is to climb fast and hard, then go easy on the descents. 2 days till race day!

I also had a photo shoot with photo editor of Triathlete magazine Nils Nilsen to go with the interview I did with them for the July off-road issue. Nils is a cool and fun guy to work with. I enjoyed doing this photo shoot.

Our campsite!

Here's a look at our campsite at Boulder Beach on Lake Mead! We're parked here till after the Xterra Las Vegas race, so we're officially camping...

I'm sleeping in the tent because its so warm here and I take the tent cover off at night. It doesn't rain much here and that way I can see the stars and feel the breezes.

This is our beautiful view of the lake and the mountains right from our RV door.

This was a picture we took entirely by accident, from riding through the tunnels on our way to Hoover Dam. We thought it was cool so we decided to share it. Don't worry, when the real thing happens I'm definately heading for the light...bike or not!

Swim in Lake Mead

I swam in Lake Mead today for the 2nd time and this time we took pictures. The water is very nice, a little less muddy than the lakes back in Alaska. The water temperature is still around 57 degrees so a wetsuit was necessary to get a good workout in. I'm feelin' pretty good even though the water was choppy because of the high wind that just picked up here. With the race just less than a week away I'm in my taper week now and I'm just now feeling stronger! Its gonna be interesting to see what I create on race day.