By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
This morning I wore Bill Fox’s bicycle jersey to remind me about how fragile and fleeting life can be.
June 1 will be 20 years since Fox died in a bicycle crash in the Hudson Valley north of New York City. He was my pedaling alter ego and I created personal bicycle rides in New York and Florida to honor Bill’s legacy.
I cherish this jersey because Bill’s lovely wife, Margaret, gave me it after I completed a 158-mile one-day bike ride from New York City to Albany along the Hudson River to remember Bill.
I wear it with honor and with the responsibility of bicycling with the joy Bill did. I have a chapter with several stories about Bill Fox in my book, Bicycle Man. The fact is bicycling is life-affirming, but every bicycle ride I take is also an exercise in risk management.
This morning I did a 37-mile bicycle ride to remember Bill. It was my Summerlin-Allegiant Stadium/T-Mobile Arena-Las Vegas Strip-Downtown-Alta Drive bike ride.
The bike ride has a little a bit of everything — a paved trail, the suburbs, an NFL stadium, NHL arena, the famed Las Vegas Strip, a downtown and a straight-line, upward-sloping road back to my neighborhood in Summerlin.
This Bill Fox Remembrance Ride includes a three-mile jaunt down the Strip, so I’m there early on this Saturday morning to bike when there’s only a small number of motorists on the road.
But first I biked about six miles on the 215 western trail to kickstart the ride.
This first segment of the ride east on Hacienda Avenue to the Raiders’ NFL stadium, Allegiant Stadium, is one I did many times when I reported on the construction of the venue during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
The stadium is a key source of news for this site.
A short bike ride away is T-Mobile Arena, where there are bike racks close to the building. I credit Rick Arpin with the forward-thinking approach to transportation on looking at various ways to get to the arena where the NHL Vegas Golden Knights and UFC are tenants.
The Strip is quiet. Later in the day, it will be frenetic with tourists and motorists looking for their hotel-casinos.
But now, it’s literally serene by Strip standards.
My lane position on the Strip — down the middle of the right lane and I wave all motorists to change lanes to pass me to comply with Nevada state law. Yes, state law requires motorists to change lanes to pass a bicyclist if there is a second passing lane.
Las Vegas Boulevard leads to downtown Las Vegas.
And the welcome sign.
Bill would love this bike ride. Bicycling is all about sponging up life and seeing it up-close. I feel sorry for people in cars. There’s no connection to the outdoors and the environment. It’s like living a life in cellophane wrap.
As I head north on Las Vegas Boulevard into downtown, I get the sense that the local decor is orange construction cones and wedding chapels.
I head over to Container Park on Fremont Street. It was Tony Hsieh’s baby and to this day Hsieh’s death is still a haunting reminder of how a life that touched so many can spiral out of control.
I make my way to Alta Drive, the best possible road to take from downtown to Summerlin.
Metro Las Vegas does not have a paved trail network like other cities. Alta is wide with a bike lane and it’s off-limits to commercial vehicles.
About five miles west of downtown, just west of the Rainbow Boulevard intersection, I stop to see Mariane’s roses. I first met her husband while bilking on Alta 10 years ago and remained friends with his lovely wife after he died.
I aim to stop and smell the roses.
Alta is the key road to Summerlin from downtown.
There was even this Navy vet zipping up the hill and past me on an electric trike.
Enjoy life. Bill Fox did.
You never know if you’ll leave your home on a bicycle and never walk through the door again.
PSA