Just before the Historic Railroad Trail reaches the Hoover Dam you can turn right onto a path that connects to the paved Hoover Dam Access Road and ride over the Dam to Arizona.

I love rail trails! I've been a monthly supporter of Rails to Trails for some 15 years now! Thanks!

deep respect to the plants and animals who can scratch out an existence there

It's fascinating how the start of the painting looks so rudimentary compared to the end result. I have one of your prints on the windowsill of the breakfast bar and I enjoyed seeing how you start one of your paintings.

As a pre COVID Vegas cyclotourist love this content. Spring Mountain, red rock, lake Mead loop, Firing range at the end of Decatur St, Mt Charleston and when in the peak of shape Kyle canyon, Lee Canyon crossover loop. If you can get a ride to/from the Quickie Mart on I15 valley of fire is another good one.

All that awesome infrastructure out there and barely a soul to be found! Amazing!

Thank you so, so much for ending the video with your art. I loved your well thought out painting gear! So practical. Thanks for taking us along on yet another wonderful adventure.

I rode this trail a day before Thanksgiving. I can't believe you guys didn't keep going.

If it were paint by numbers, I’d have a chance! 2 fans from Canada.

Diacompe is one of the brands that i was a fan of back in the 90s.

Nice watercolour! Btw loved your Girona break, hope you get the opportunity to revisit.

Cannot wait til the Bureau is forced to drain Powell, fill Mead, and restore Glen Canyon. This fine video drives that point home, as well as showcasing a great ride!

I saw a bit of the trail back in the late 90's when they just got started. I was vacationing in LV with friends, and didn't have my bike with me, and consequently never got the chance to check it out. Thank you for sharing it. Now I know I need to make a point of going back to ride on this network of trails. BTW, thank you for sharing some of your methods for watercolor painting. I am a fan, and I enjoyed seeing how you create art.

Fantastic traffic free trails. Peace and quiet. This is what cycling is all about, you're so lucky.

I have hiked that trail a few times. Was thinking some day I'd ride it just for fun.

Nice rail trail, loved the portable watercolour easel, at first I was thinking what in the heck is that!

As long as there is water they will all go out with their boats and feel like captain hook. The puddlecaptains, its is campareable to the situation in some places here where the water levels are falling. It makes me sad seeing this and I am sure the battle for water will be hard. That painting is awesome! Thanks for that.

It's so nice to head to a warm place in the winter. We went down to Phoenix last January and it was like a typical summer day where we live including the lows at night. But then we had to come back home.

I appreciate your content. It was really nice to see such a fine watercolor at the end. Ride, art, celebrate. Thanks!

welcome to Vegas! I love our bike paths. Wetlands Preserve Loop is one of my faves...A nice meandering creek with lots of flora & fauna. Happy Trails!

Looks like an interesting trail - would not do it in the summer time - you picked a great time - Thanks for the great video!

Nice ride and some good historical content as well. Thanks for the video and take care, Al

Hi Russ and Laura just moved from CDA Idaho to Prescott used to live and ride everywhere around LV Nevada don't blame you for getting out of the cold, Enjoy your trip,

Great video on the Lake Mead Rail Trail, I didn't know it existed. I just rode in the Santa Barbara area yesterday in the City of Goleta, was 67 degrees yesterday. I'm planning to ride the Tour de Palm Springs in February 2023. If you go down the AZ-95 towards Parker Arizona, there's a nice "Parker Dam" ride you can try, it's about 40 miles long, very flat and easy, not too much traffic. On the way you can also ride the island in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

I was recently in that area and I was thinking it would not be that cool for biking. Glad to see I was wrong. Also, neat to see how many small rail lines were built in that area. They even did that in the Mercury area to haul stuff around for the nuke tests, according to that nuclear museum in Vegas.

Getting out of Vegas and riding is the best use of time! If you have a bit more time to drive, head to Zion. Bikes are great for riding the valley in Zion National Park. I think once a year you get to ride in the tunnels, but I’m not sure about that.

I am pretty sure that is the exact run course I ran on a half iron distance triathlon several years ago. It was hot as fuck and the only shade was the tunnels.

Digging the soundtrack..

I don't know if you guys are still in NV, but if you're coming back through the northern half, there are some great gravel riding roads out behind Lovelock. Check out riding 7 Troughs Rd from NV-399.

Honestly, I could watch a whole video, from start to finish, of Russ painting.

Thx for the awesome vid. Would love to see an update on your current plein air painting setup ... that easle looks very interesting!

Also worth hitting up the hot springs just below the dam. It’s about a mile and a half hike down, but worth it.

Great video! Happy 2023

If you are still in the Vegas area as others mentioned you should check our Red Rock

Very nice! I was in LV in November for the first time and had three hours to kill so I rented my first ebike and rode two laps around Red Rock Canyon. Highly recommended but dress warm.

A very enjoyablke video. Thank you. The soundtrack made me think of a party scene on Love Boat. But who cares what I think.

It is a spectacular area. I had to do a forensic data collection job there and flew into Las Vegas as the sun was setting. I was stunned by how beautiful the mountains and area around it were, something you don't really think of when you hear "Las Vegas". (My partner was jealous that work flew me to Vegas and put me up in the Venetian, until I told her is was literally 36 straight hours of making forensic clones of hard drives and backup tapes along with the chain of custody and other associated paperwork, Fed-Ex-ing them to the office, then getting back on a plane.)

Great song!

Love it! Looking good - even in "mild" Seattle it is 20 degrees so I like seeing sun and bare legs.

several years ago I rented a bicycle in vegas and rode to red rock, great ride, about 50 miles round trip

West side of Phoenix has Estrella Mtn Regional Park which is lovely. Cat Hill Trail goes up to Top of Scar with a 40% grade but wonderful view of Phx from Goodyear/Verrado/Buckeye. The golf courses in Goodyear (Palm Valley and Wigwam) were always a wonder to ride at night, but I never did that...End of Estrella Parkway was a treat, Estrella Tower was much better when nothing was around it. Base & Meridian trails by Phoenix Raceway were nice, too, cuz they mostly had water year round. Gillespie Dam was not so much a bike ride but a nice thing to see. That's all I got, good call at snowbirding! Wish I wasn't stuck in Upstate NY again...

Do you have a video that details your Pochade box set up? the fold out tray with the cut out container holders looks awesome.

Merry Christmas guys! 🎅

Russ, you are quite the talent. I have one of your watercolors on my desk to remind me of what I should be doing.

Looks like a fun ride.

Wow, wish I knew of this and was into bicycles more when I lived in those parts. Motorcycles were more my thing at that time.

"You're in my neighborhood!!"..,like the finished watercolor...,("Merry Xmas"/Happy New Year!!!/"safe travels")..🙂🏜️

that seattube shifter setup 🤯

We do have great riding here! Glad to see you made it out here to ride and enjoyed!!

I kinda sorta think you should end all of your videos with a little abbreviated clip of you doing a painting (when it is applicable). That was a really cool outro.

I have those cranks! I love them. They seem to be from the Sugino molds, but sugino no longer sells them under their name. Now Soma or Rivendell stock them. 42/26t is my perfect set up. And 9x 11-40 for low end tractor gearing.

Colorado Springs also looks like Mars. Thanks for sharing your adventure!

that's a sweet easel! Enjoy your stay in Vegas

Amazing 53F to you is shirt weather. 55F in Houston is MIGHTY COLD~ I mean I was wearing 3 layers yesterday riding to the grocery store. I guess it's the dampness that is here that makes is so cold!

You know it's the 21st Century when the local environment can be compared to another planet and you think, yeah it does look like Mars 😂😂🤣

This was fun. Wish I had my bike with me on my last trip to Vegas.

Great video! Looks like a great location. I think rail trails are a bit under appreciated. Glad you are shining some light on them.

Welcome to the Southwest. Too bad you could not walk your bikes to the end of the trail. I have plein aire oil painted in the past, which is more forgiving than watercolor. Paint and wipe with a rag if your not happy with something. Your painting captured it. Happy Holidays.

Great to see you arting in the wild, very nice work.

Nice surprise at the end with the plein air painting!

Nice ride . Is it flat ? Or up and down . I went near there . Missed that location . I went to death valley national Park . And valley of fire state park near Las Vegas nev and the hoover damn .

What a cool little trip that is, tunnels are pretty fun and I love the desert. Have you ridden the C & O canal tow path Pittsburgh to DC at all? It's a good trail and the tunnels reminded me of it, that and the rails to trails aspect, vastly different otherwise of course.

Great stuff Russ and Laura. As always.

Lake Mead will be filling back up in 2023.

I LOVE the riding content!!

Teravail EhLine are big beefy tires.

Great video. thanks guys !

You guys make great videos, thanks.

Verynice painting.

Keen for dat desert content

I wish I could roam these places:(.

Great video and amazing route. Do you publish your GPX file?

Come to Bentonville

We visited that area too. Did you make it to the Fisher Space Pen factory? They were closed when we were there unfortunately.

What are the paint supplies you use in this video? The portable easel and supplies are rad.

Cool ride!

Nice bikes for this ride. Seriously unique rigs.

"what remains of Lake Mead" true that

Lovely painting at the end there Russ. Looks like a cool ride. Were there really no other people on the trail or was that judicious editing and shooting?

Oh, I've been there! In Fallout New Vegas )

Love your videos! Almost makes me want to go to Vegas ... The jazzy music not so much. Not sure what to do instead.... Still love your videos.

Can anyone tell me what that music was by the end of the video? That was such a jam.

Nice video. Question. A few years ago you did ‘Non-Roadie gets a bike fit’ did you implement any of the recommended tweaks to be less stretched out and more relaxed? I am 60 and don’t cycle as much as I want because of pain. Too shy to mix with real cyclists and get a bike fitting…but wondered if you had tweaked your position on the bike and if any benefit was realized.

How's the weather in Vegas this time of year? Been considering a trip down there to ride through Red Rock

Amazing ❤

How do you like the EhLines for that type of riding? I just picked up a Gorilla Monsoon the other week and haven't had a chance to put many miles on them without snow cover, or really at all. -10 in Minnesota this week! Was debating swapping to Rutlands in the spring but wasn't sure!

You may have covered it in another video, but where did you get the 11 speed friction shifter from for Laura's bike? I have been looking for that.

I'm curious what you think about the Ehlines, and have you tried the Ultradynamico Mars or Rene Herse Umtanum Ridge? My Gorilla Monsoon came with the Ehline 27.5 x 2.3" on it, and I'm thinking I'd like to change them out, but I still want something wide and knobby. I know 2.3" knobbies are not going to ride like the 35mm slicks on my other favorite bike, and that's OK because I think of this bike as my off-road bike, but these feel kinda dead to me, and I'm thinking maybe I can do better with the fattest UD or Herse tires. I'm not that used to riding tires like this, so maybe swapping them for Mars wouldn't really make much difference, but I'm curious if you've been able to compare either of the other tires I'm thinking about.

I rode the 34 mile Mountain River trail in March, while others in our party walked part of that rail-trail. It looks like the lake level is down considerably from the already low levels back then. Our son had a job in the area, and I thought this would be a place to come for many more winter bicycle rides in between visiting. Alas, he is moving elsewhere, to a place where one can not get away from winter.

Looks like a great ride and also great for art. What medium are you using? Gouache or watercolor? I love the picture, btw.

Come out and visit us at Palm Desert Cyclery in Palm Desert.

Thanks for the video! How long did it take you to ride the entire trail?

Hey do you have a link to this route?

Good music

"patrolling the mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter"

no locks?

What’s in your BxB bag, beside the camera gear?

where is the location?

I’m in St. George not too far from Vegas, I haven’t watch the video yet but where are y’all headed to? Would love to ride

Did you guys drive to vegas? or fly with your bikes?