MARK WAITE / PVT A group of 37 British bicyclists made their way along Highway 160 and over Mountain Springs Pass to Las Vegas Friday, the final leg of a charity fund raiser. Advertisement

The leader of 37 British bicyclists riding through Pahrump for charity late last week had some suggestions to make for local officials.

"You should have some designated bike routes through Pahrump so you can make it through town without killing yourself," said Max Kramer, coordinator of a bike ride for MAG, the Mines Advisory Group. "The (highway) 160 to me is dangerous, trying to find ways to get from Death Valley to Pahrump without getting on the 160."

MAG was formed by the late Princess Diana. It's dedicated to the abolition of land mines worldwide. The organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.

The group began the bike ride in Beatty, then rode through Stovepipe Wells and Panamint Springs in Death Valley National Park, then up to Pahrump. The final day, last Friday, they rode over Mountain Springs Summit and into Las Vegas where the ride ended at the MGM Grand Casino on the Strip.

The group had lots of time to contemplate the trash on the highway, the shredded tires and passing motorists, though ride leaders said motorists speeding by were generally courteous.

Fortunately, after the recent road construction on Highway 160, newly-painted emblems designate the shoulders as an official bike route.

"We actually cycled it before. We cycled it last March," Kramer said.

The group plans to have a ride through Death Valley and Pahrump every year, Wright said. They will be passing through again next March. They stayed at the Saddle West Hotel and Casino, some riders did some shopping at Wal-Mart while in town.

The group includes one American, though organizers said they'd welcome more local participants.

They raised 50,000 British pounds this year, Wright said, which at the current rate of exchange translates into over $100,000.

"We chose to make rides through Death Valley because we're going to raise money to clear the real death valleys," Wright said.

The target is for each rider to raise 6,000 pounds, she said. About 40 percent of the donations however, goes into overhead, paying for the flight from the United Kingdom, food and accommodations.

MAG members said there are still between 80 and 100 million land mines still in the ground. Unexploded ordnance kills or injures between 15,000 to 20,000 people per year, Wright said.

The funds raised on the bike ride will be used to destroy land mines in countries like Angola, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Laos. The MAG Web site adds the organization also provides medical care to injured victims of unexploded ordnance and advocates for action banning land mines.

The riders enjoyed bicycling through the desert, a far different climate than their native England, Wright said. They were treated to warmer than usual weather, sunny skies and not too much wind.

"Everyone just loves it," Wright said. "It's so different from what we see back home."

Wright and Maxwell were part of a road crew riding in a van, paralleling the bicyclists.

Outside of the worry over the proximity to passing motorists, Maxwell said, 'the road's been good. We've only had four flats."