By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It’s Las Vegas’ most famous road. Yet, just about everyone is afraid to ride a bicycle on the Strip.
Until now.
Now, bicyclists are flocking to one of the world’s most-famous three-mile-long stretches of asphalt because the Strip’s famed hotel-casinos are shuttered from of a COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 73,000 Americans. As one bicyclist put it last weekend, “There were more bicyclists than cars on the Strip.”
So now, geese waddle down Las Vegas Boulevard in front of the Venetian. Ducks swim in the Bellagio fountains. And people are pedaling bicycles on the Strip, too. A killer virus did what Clark County, the RTC and local politicians failed to do — make the community’s signature street safe, if not inviting, to locals who just want to pedal a two-wheeler on a strip of pavement that defines Las Vegas to the outside world.
These days, it’s regular bikin’ folk wearing T-shirts and shorts — not bright jerseys and spandex — who are bicycling the wide thoroughfare in the age of coronavirus.
People like Chris Maathuis, who anchors the Channel 8 sports broadcast in Ls Vegas. Maathuis took three of his grandkids for a bike ride down the Strip a few days ago. They even biked to T-Mobile Arena behind New York-New York and the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium on short side trips off the Strip.
“What first came to mind is why can’t Clark County convert one lane to bike traffic,?” Maathuis told LVSportsBiz.com.
Good question. Here’s grandkids biking the Strip near Caesars.
Grandpa Maathuis gave LVSportsBiz.com a report on biking with the kiddies:
“Got a first hand look pedaling up and down the Strip and saw a bunch of fellow bikers doing the same thing. We stopped in front of T-Mobile Arena for a moment, sat down to drink some water, but told we had to leave, can’t stop and sit, which I understand.
Then we stopped and got a few pictures in front of the world famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Paid a guy a little money to take a few pics for us, and it was worth it. All in all, terrific ride, loved the beauty of the strip from the seat of a bike, and waving and saying hello to others doing the same thing. It was Las Vegas as I’d never seen it. So it was worth every pedal.”
Most people think it’s the Spandex Cowboys who are the bicyclists of Las Vegas, the guys in bright bicycle jerseys with company ads on them and bike shorts that are not very different from the tights worn by NFL players as part of their Sunday uniforms. You see them State Route 159 outside Summerlin biking on the shoulders of the two land road in Red Rock Canyon — or on the Mountains River Loop Trail in Henderson, Boulder City and the Lake Mean National Recreation Area.
The truth is the average bicyclist wears regular shorts and a T-shirt, not lycra. Check out Las Vegas’ Melissa Ferris, who has an Internet sports show with her friend, Monecia Threats. The duo’s show on social media is at @girlchatsports. Here’s what she had to say about biking the Strip: “Whether walking, jogging or riding a bike down the Las Vegas Strip, it is something that many of us have never and will never see again. Being a resident of Las Vegas for 18+ years, I have never seen the Strip empty like this EVER!
The “Mo and Mel” combo biked the Strip with their friend Erica.
RTC reported recently that record numbers of people are renting public bikes at stations to pedal the Strip and downtown Las Vegas. LVSportsBiz.com reported very early in the lockdown, stay-at-home stages of the pandemic in mid-March that more and more people were hopping on bicycles.
Follow LVSportsBiz.com on Twitter and Instagram. Like LVSportsBiz.com on Facebook. Alan Snel is publishing a new book titled, Bicycle Man: Life of Journeys. Contact Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com.com if you would like to pre-order and buy the book.