Vegas, Day 2: Red Rocks

Today we went to the Red Rocks area outside of Blue Diamond, about 30 min drive from Las Vegas proper. While yesterday's riding at Bootleg Canyon was highly technical, today's trails were much tamer. We did about 20 miles of cross country riding through beautiful scenery. Starting at McGhies' Blue Diamond bike shop, we climbed gradually on an old roadbed.

We soon reached a trailhead parking area off Hwy 160.
Allison checks the map:

From here a few headed back towards town while the rest of us continued further out. From the trailhead parking area, we took an underpass/tunnel under the highway and began a long, gradual climb, eventually reaching about 5000'.
Allison and Chris top a rise on the climb:

We then looped around on Deadhorse trail, and our earlier climbing was rewarded with a fast, swoopy downhill run. 

Here's Russell flying past:

Once we got back to McGhies', we found that the other group had already split. However, they left us hats, shoes, and a cooler of cold beverages! So thoughtful...

Diana had been eyeing a t-shirt in the shop when we first rolled up, and since we were on vacation I decided to splurge (instead of being my usual tightwad self) and get her one. I gave it to her when meet up back at the house. She was pleasantly surprised by her present, and I was surprised to learn that she'd bought two for herself! Luckily, she ended up with three different ones.