San Francisco / Las Vegas Bike Hire and Routes

egasa

Heading to the states this summer and will really need to get on a bike in preparation for my trip to the Alps at the start of August. Won't have been on the bike for several weeks due to a 3 week trip to Borneo with a group of school pupils (I know - life is tough with Borneo, West Coast USA and the Alps jammed into a 6 week spell.

Any decent places to hire road bikes in San Francisco and also Vegas? And any decent routes (60 or so milers).

A buddy tells me I can do a 60 mile time trial on a Vegas main road in blistering heat on the flat and that's my whack.

Tell me he's wrong - really got to get some half decent bike time in, or the chaps will sock it to me big time in the Alps - with a Marmotte route planned.

All advice much appreciated.

tourdriving

Take a look on this site http://tourdriving.wordpress.com/usa/ go Down to Photo of a bike find states of Califonia and Nevada there will be roadbike hire fore those cities you are going to

canamdad

This looks like a start for LV: http://bikinglasvegas.com

egasa

Appreciate the links gents. I'll take a look, thanks.

IShotYou

Vegas Rentals:
Pro Cyclery Good Shop, Nice staff and quality service. Don't know about rentals, but would be my first port of call within Vegas.
Las Vegas Cyclery Well stocked shop, but expensive. Most people rent bikes from this shop. I go here to browse the expensive stuff, but wouldn't buy anything from here.
Broken Spokes Well situated for probably the most popular area for bike riding (Red Rock and Red Rock Scenic Loop)

I'd consider emailing them for availability and range of bikes, as they change the bikes out each year (as far as i know), as they get alot of use.

Have you considered bringing your bike with you? Virgin will carry bikes for free. BA charge about £55 per flight (pre-booked as extra baggage). Will be cheaper than renting.

Weather:
The weather can be the limiting factor here - expect it to be 100ºF (High 30's/Low 40'sºC). Thats intense, but the carrying of water is the main issue - 2 bottles isn't enough, and if you get a mechanical out in the desert, in that heat......well, it can be serious.
Sun cream is essential - as sun burn and skin cancer is more or less guaranteed without it!

Some Cycling Tips:
-There are cycle lanes on most roads, and some of them are bigger than a UK car lane.
-Nevada state law requires 3ft space between cyclists and cars. But that means nothing. Cyclists have the least rights on the roads here. I've heard of the feds telling cyclists that they should get off the roads, as it's for cars!
-You can turn right on red lights (unless its signposted specifically that you can't)
-It is dangerous out here
-Cellular Use whilst driving is an offence - but I reckon over 60% of the cars that will pass you, will have a driver on their phone texting. Expect all drivers to be on their phones - automatic cars promote it even more.
-I go through a lot of tyres/tubes, as they don't clean the roads here - there's glass/car debris all over the place.


Routes:
- http://www.rtcsnv.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/BikeMapBrochureSept2011.pdf
- Look at Garmin connect at the heat maps for the most popular routes.
- The road you refer to is probably the SR95 to Reno. A nice TT type road, but its 70mph limit for cars.
- SR 156/157/158 provide good hills. (18miles straight up!)

egasa

Excellent information, IShotYou (feels strange saying that). Much appreciated.

I can't bring my bike as our itinerary makes it impossible - plus my wife will ShootMe (see what I did there)? She may yet do so with me hiring for a few days a couple of times, but less likely. However, early morning rides will be the order of the day (the 0450 team might be a goer) - which will help with the heat somewhat.

Lovely to hear about that hilly route - that's exactly what I'm after to prepare for the Alps. Not interested in the TT type thing - a friend told me that was all that I was likely to get in Vegas - glad to hear it's not so.

Thanks again. More to consider.

pendulum

For San Francisco try Blazing Saddles http://www.blazingsaddles.com/san-franc ... road-bikes Used them a couple of years ago and they were really good. The bike, service, helpfulness and everything was spot on!