E-bike helps conquer 34-mile trail outside Las Vegas

The River Mountains Loop Trail paired with the power boost of an e-bike could be your ticket to ride.

E-bike rides still count as exercise, and an e-bike rental can help turn the local challenge of a strenuous, scenic 34-mile ride into reality.

Safeguarded from motorized traffic, the paved trail circles the River Mountains as it passes through lengthy parts of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the northern limits of Boulder City and the eastern edge of Henderson. The loop’s impressive offerings include Lake Mead views, extinct volcanic remnants, ups, downs, big skies, Mojave Desert solitude and panoramas of the distant Strip and Spring Mountains.

The trail isn’t for beginners or anyone who hasn’t been on a bike or exercised in a while, but with battery-powered e-bike help, the ride doesn’t require the stamina belonging to avid cyclists, either. An e-bike’s pedal assist can make grueling rides doable, fun and still cardiovascularly beneficial. After all, riders still pedal, and most can expect sore quadriceps and calves after a 34-mile journey.

Riding a standard bicycle will always win in the category of exercise benefits, but the boost from an electronically assisted bike allowed me to complete the River Mountains Loop Trail. Because of the trail’s frequent elevation changes and total distance, that feat wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

A day in the saddle

Last weekend, my husband and I rented e-bikes from All Mountain Cyclery in Boulder City for about $125 each. I made reservations online after finding a favorable weather forecast.

With our car parked for the day at All Mountain Cyclery, we walked our bikes across U.S. Highway 93, the main road leading into Boulder City. Our ride then started uphill on Yucca Street, which ends near an access point to River Mountains Loop Trail. Once on the loop, we chose the clockwise direction, so the second half of our excursion would include Lake Mead.

The creosote-lined trail paralleled U.S. 93 as we headed west toward Railroad Pass casino. Behind the casino, mile 1 is marked on a post with the loop’s signature bighorn sheep in rock art style, letting cyclists know they have made it past the official start of the 34-mile loop. Mileposts are regular sights every half-mile along the loop, which may be started at any access point cyclists choose (we started and ended at mile 30.5).

Around milepost 3, as we headed north through the eastern edge of Henderson, more people and bikes appeared on the trail because of an access point at Equestrian and Foothills drives. The peaceful, easy feeling of coasting on a bike was part of this segment. Views included plenty of scrappy desert scrubland, old and new housing and important parts of Southern Nevada’s water and electrical infrastructure. Behind a Southern Nevada Water Authority complex, a rest area with shade for humans and a water trough for bighorn sheep exists. Gambel’s quail are in the area, and trail users occasionally are seen on horseback.

Beauty and inspiration

As the loop continues along the west side of the River Mountains, trailgoers get distant views of the Strip and the Spring Mountains across the Las Vegas Valley. Heading in the direction of Lake Mead Parkway, cyclists face steep climbs starting around mile 7 in a hilly area known as Three Sisters. Both times I’ve completed the River Mountains Loop Trail, that’s been my zone of greatest e-bike gratitude and admiration for anyone able to tackle those ascents with 100 percent human power.

After Three Sisters, the loop trail begins to parallel Lake Mead Parkway and passes a connector trail option for more biking along the Las Vegas Wash and a second option for e-bike rentals around milepost 10 at River Mountains Bike Shop.

Tunnels and more climbing lead cyclists into the boundaries of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, where the real beauty and a long descent to the lakeshore begin. Amid the trail’s twists and turns through parched landscape, it’s easy to feel more a part of the natural environment than of the daily work-and-life grind. Surrounding views of the rugged Muddy Mountains and Lake Mead’s colorful geology are inspirational.

February is too early to start seeing spring wildflowers and critters along the trail. Desert shrubs are still wearing their winter drab with an extra layer of desperation after more than 200 days without measurable rainfall. Coyote paw prints, chalky white because of the soil’s gypsum, marked Lake Mead’s black asphalt. March and April should bring back a few blooms and some reptiles along the trail.

Before the biggest waters of Lake Mead come into view, cyclists get a glimpse of the Las Vegas Wash on its march toward the lake. An informational sign along the trail points out the distant channel where the Colorado River flows into Lake Mead. The River Mountains Loop Trail can sharpen anyone’s understanding of this important water source.

End of the journey

In addition to having an exhilarating time on the recreation area’s downhill curves, riders get to enjoy vantage points above washes and canyons from bridges running along an old park road-turned-path. By milepost 18, the trail and Lakeshore Road are parallel.

Near Boulder Beach, a gradual climb begins toward Alan Bible Visitor Center (milepost 24) and continues all the way to and through Boulder City. The final miles of the trail, when many cyclists might be exhausted and saddle sore, demand the greatest attention to sometimes tricky signage details. One thing to keep in mind is that the River Mountains Loop Trail is paved and separated from motorized traffic for its entirety. If you find yourself in traffic or on dirt, it’s time to reconnect with the RMLT.

Just before completing our five-hour journey at mile 30.5, we stopped off at the giant mountain bike sculpture along the River Mountains Loop Trail that celebrates rewarding and possibly painful two-wheeled accomplishment. A clinking of water-filled canteens was in order to toast e-biking’s role in making more trails accessible.