Las Vegas BikeFest

[JonKerr]

Anyone else going? My Dad and I are riding out for it as part of our trip we're taking this year. We're going to get there on Thursday October 3rd and stay until the 4th. We're staying at Golden Nugget. It's the main "hub" for everything that's going on apparently. Then we're going to ride out to Zion in Utah for a day, head back down to see Hoover Dam on our way to Laughlin for a day, then blast home. Should be a fun ride. Hope it's cooled off a little by then. (Not holding my breath though ) Here's our route.

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Winter+Gardens+Blvd&daddr=129+Fremont+St,+Las+Vegas,+NV+89101+to:36.804543,-114.109036+to:37.176269,-113.300111+to:U.S.+89A+N+to:36.949635,-112.5264269+to:37.2116338,-112.9592011+to:1215+Zion+Park+Blvd,+Springdale,+UT+to:37.129918,-113.525924+to:Falcon+Ridge+Pkwy+to:Hoover+Dam+to:2300+S+Casino+Dr,+Laughlin,+NV+to:Unknown+road&hl=en&ll=37.193963,-112.93087&spn=0.157803,0.265388&sll=37.211225,-112.968893&sspn=0.039442,0.066347&geocode=FQJa9QEdb8UH-Q;FXzrJwIdJAgj-Sk1-FDSocPIgDFp1Q7qZDD_4w;Fb-XMQIdlNUy-Q;Fc1DNwIdcS0_-Q;FQzBMwIdrPtK-Q;FYPOMwIdpvtK-SmHmytEANI0hzHeG2TA1cG33g;FfHNNwIdH2FE-SmXIRUa5MLKgDGqI559FSSqCw;FaRhNwIdt7dD-SmpGjoVAujKgDFoCiVypiEyNA;Fb6ONgIdXLs7-Q;FVKWMQIdhNQy-Q;FVqPJQIdtj4p-SkhJJ6uai3JgDGZqNJzQP6tgQ;FfBoGAId8L4r-Sk_jZAes0POgDEszbXq4_eBxw;FRJU9QEdpMQH-Q&t=h&mra=mru&via=5,6&z=13

 

[abyss1406]

That looks like a sweet ride

 

[latony007]

down town

That's going to be a great ride. not sure about staying downtown with a motorcycle rally? they are really centering everything out of the nugget not a lot of room down there?

The damn is cool. Lake mead is one of my favorite places water always warm and clear. Used to have a boat and would just float around right by the damn and party. Keep your gas tank full out there and stay filled up and have lots o water. I actually like Laughlin more now as I get older and just want to gamble. lower limits, less idiots.

 

[JonKerr]

That's going to be a great ride. not sure about staying downtown with a motorcycle rally? they are really centering everything out of the nugget not a lot of room down there?

The damn is cool. Lake mead is one of my favorite places water always warm and clear. Used to have a boat and would just float around right by the damn and party. Keep your gas tank full out there and stay filled up and have lots o water. I actually like Laughlin more now as I get older and just want to gamble. lower limits, less idiots.

Golden Nugget is providing secured parking for all guests bikes. From what I've heard all of Fremont Street is being taken over by the event and will be lined with bikes, vendors, concerts, shows, lots of "scenery" the Nugget is just the hub but the whole of downtown is included.

http://www.lasvegasbikefest.com/

I had a near disaster with fuel on 95 last year heading to Vegas from Bishop. I didn't map out fuel stops and didn't realize that taking the 168 to 266 to 95, there wasn't a single gas station for 158 miles until we got the Beatty. I was tucking in, drafting off trucks, everything I could do to save fuel. When we left Bishop we figured there had to be something out there. WRONG!!! So this time I spent an hour mapping out fuel stops no more that 100 miles apart. The twisty bits of 168 were some of the most epic riding I've ever done. But damn its empty out there.

I'm actually thinking about cutting out the big loop up around the Zion area and just riding through Zion back and forth and spending a lot of time with my camera in the park. One of the things I regretted about the trip to Yosemite last year was trying to just go through the park in one day I didn't have any time to really enjoy it and take a bunch of shots.

 

[JonKerr]

Admins, if you think this is a little too risqué feel free to remove it. Just the promo video from their website.

2012 LAS VEGAS BIKEFEST: music by The Dan Lawson Band DANLAWSON.COM - YouTube

 

[JonKerr]

All packed up. Not leaving until Thursday morning but I have things I have to do after work tomorrow and we're leaving at 6AM so I won't really have time tomorrow to pack. Amazing how much stuff you can fit in a pair of saddle bags and a duffle bag.

 

[Kdubb223]

My Dad and I are heading out Thursday morning as well. Staying til Sunday, not sure which hotel we are staying at since we are tagging along with a few other friends.

 

[latony007]

All packed up. Not leaving until Thursday morning but I have things I have to do after work tomorrow and we're leaving at 6AM so I won't really have time tomorrow to pack. Amazing how much stuff you can fit in a pair of saddle bags and a duffle bag.

Have an awesome time!! Put 20 on black for me !

 

[JonKerr]

A little teaser photo from Zion at the lodge.


Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[JonKerr]

So I'm home from the trip. I must say it was a great trip. Bikefest was fun. But I think we should have gone Friday and Saturday instead of Thursday and Friday. Seemed like a lot of people started showing up as we were leaving to head to Utah. The Vendor village was actually a little disappointing. Smaller than an IMS show by A LOT and nowhere near as much "Scenery" and we were expecting. Then again, we did go on Friday morning. So it may have gotten a little more interesting after we were there.

Zion was an incredible sight to see. But again, a little disappointing. With the government shut down, the park is actually closed. Since that road connects towns, they don't have the road itself shut down, but the park is. So essentially you're allowed to drive/ride through, but not stop. To the point they have cones and caution tape at all the viewpoint turnouts and armed (I was shocked to see that) rangers out there. It's a 12 mile ride through some of the tightest, most beautiful scenic twisties I've ever seen. So we rode through and back Friday evening when we pulled into town but couldn't get any pictures. The ranger even told me at the gate they don't want cameras rolling period and to turn off my GoPro. Not wanting to cause any issues, I complied. Saturday morning however, we went and rode it again. This time, GoPro rolling, and my DSLR strapped to my Dad's bike ready to go so we could stop occasionally and take some pics. We had all kind of legit reasons we may have to stop on a road like that if any rangers saw us. (Mainly both of us have really bad necks, pinched nerves, slow pace like that aggravates, etc... ) No issues and some I got some incredible footage and some pretty decent shots for trying to kind of rush things.

I'll be putting together a video later, but here's some images from the whole trip.

(BTW... looking for a good song to go with the slow paced footage, something that kind of speaks to appreciation of what we have, what's around you, etc... Not the usual fast paced rock type stuff I put with my normal canyon rides. I'm having trouble finding anything in my iTunes library. I was thinking of Higher by Creed, but I've used that before. Any ideas would help.)

Link to the Facebook album.
https://www.facebook.com/jon.kerr.0043/media_set?set=a.10201803403382448.1073741827.1102934981&type=1

And a few of my favorites:

Me, my wife Kristen, and my Dad at the Golden Nugget.

Kristen and her friend who went with her, Hillary.

PJD's first bike.

This was my favorite bike in the Artistry in Iron custom show:

There was a little T&A there, but not much. Harder to get them to pose for you too for some reason. This girl was one of the only ones who'd pose.

The front of the lodge we were at in Zion.

Dad

 

[JonKerr]

This was the view out our window of our room at sunset. The colors were amazing.

Trying to shoot the bikes in that light was really hard. This was the only one that came out even visible.

In the park, stopping where we weren't supposed to, like the rebels that we are lol.

 

[JonKerr]

Oops. Didn't realize how big those images would be linked to Facebook. Oh well. Sorry if you can't seen them. It is kind of nice having a 27" iMac

And yes I know I have something on my lens. I noticed those spots just this morning as I was loading everything off the camera. They're on the Polarizer filter. :banghead:

 

[JonKerr]

Here's a link to the video. It's sped up a little. You don't want to ride very fast in the middle of a national park like that. Especially with the wild life that's out there. The first time we went through there with the camera off I damn near collected a small herd of mountain goats.

https://vimeo.com/76577618