Defcon Vegas Bike Adventure!

![dc19](/content/images/2011/06/dc19.png "dc19")
last week, brett and i finally booked our flight/hotel for [defcon 19](http://defcon.org). this will be my 3rd year, his 2nd. definitely looking forward to this every summer now.

i was looking at the speakers/contests for this year and, to my surprise, some genius decided to put together a defcon freaking bike ride.

i may have screamed out loud in my cubicle.

we’ve been wanting to go biking for SO LONG. i’ve wanted to go biking in general for the longest time, too, but it just never happened. we talked about buying mountain bikes a while back, and that kind of fizzled. but now i have a reason, a big group to go with, and the las vegas mountains to oogle over while adventuring out on a 25 mile bike ride.

i am stoked.

they just posted the sign up form today, i signed us both up, and then realized i have to wait for 2 months in great anticipation.

never in my life did i think i would be excited about a 25 mile bike ride, at 6 AM, in the las vegas heat, after a 5 hour plane ride, with a 3-hour time difference jet-lag. AT DEFCON.

they’re organizing the bike rental procedure, and supposedly we’re going to be given water bottles, too. they may be getting jerseys put together, but that will probably be pricey. we’ll see. i think the most exciting part so far is that i had an excuse to buy a camelbak.

i bought 2 of them today. one for me, one for brett. one day, amazon will be the death of me, and my bank account. but $30 bucks each wasn’t so bad.

![](/content/images/2011/06/51+vcW-m21L._AA300_.jpg "51+vcW-m21L._AA300_")![](/content/images/2011/06/51o820ZNbQL._AA300_.jpg)
i’m rationalizing all of this by telling myself that…
  1. both of our birthdays are in july
  2. it’s defcon
  3. it’s a bike ride with a bunch of defcon nerds
  4. it’s las vegas
  5. it’s the freaking las vegas mountains
  6. this doesn’t happen every day

i also need to buy a helmet, because the last time brett and i went biking, i was trying to steer with 1 hand, and take photos with the other, which ended with me nearly driving myself off a bridge into an alligator-inhabited pond.

evidence:

[![gators](/content/images/2011/06/sdc10688-1024x768.jpg "gators")](/content/images/2011/06/sdc10688.jpg)[![evidence of near death crash into gator pond](/content/images/2011/06/sdc10690-1024x768.jpg "evidence of near death crash into gator pond")](/content/images/2011/06/sdc10690.jpg)
those bikes also had beer holders. and we had been drinking. evidence:
[![beer holders](/content/images/2011/06/sdc10672-1024x768.jpg "beer holders")](/content/images/2011/06/sdc10672.jpg) ![](/content/images/2011/06/sdc10694-300x225.jpg)![](/content/images/2011/06/sdc10695-300x225.jpg)
so… this time i’ll at least be prepared when i repeat my unsafe bike riding practices. there’s no way i’m NOT taking pictures of this entire event. perhaps our defcon bikes will have beer holders, too.

or perhaps i’ll just bring a water bottle and save the camelbak for my whiskey sour. it is las vegas, after all.