I solved Nevada's headwind problem by riding at night the last 2 days. I figured out that the headwind dies down completely at sunset the night of my last post, and I ended up having a nice ride to a campground 26 miles from Austin (though I had a run in with 2 asshole drivers, one tried to claim his territory and my supposed wrong doing being there by flying by me honking, as though he owns the highway, and when I flicked him off, the guy behind him, some young kid, went out of his way, turned around, and tried to cut me off at an intersection. He just looked stupid doing it, because he did it too far away from me to be intimidating). All in all the ride was great, and even my tire cooperated. I only had to pump it up once on the ride! Yesterday morning I crossed over the largest mountain passes along highway 50 in central Nevada (by walking up the 2 peaks for about 2 to 3 hours), and rode into Austin. There I couldn't find the bike shop I was potentially promised. It turns out it was closed a while ago. So I ate lunch and hung around the town in the afternoon waiting out the wind for the evening. I picked up a book (I don't even remember the name now, by Cussler, part of the NUMA Files series) at a KOA campground book swap, that I read. It's not great, it's like a bad action movie about glaciers, some guy in a plane, monsters in Scotland- the confusing plot is still developing.
Anyways, I started the 111 mile bike ride from Austin to Fallon last night, thinking I might be able to do most of the ride at night. The catch about riding at night here is that it gets very very cold (low 40s). It was so cold I had to put on all of my winter clothes (winter coat, pants, neck gaiter) to stay warm while biking. I ended up caving in and setting up camp behind some thorny bushes at midnight 45 miles into the ride (I could feel my heart was getting tired). After a chilly night I rode on to Fallon.
That gets me to my day of meeting people:
10 miles into the ride, I ran into my first touring biker on the road this entire trip. This biker was headed from Reno to Ely on his first ever bike tour. We chatted for about 45 minutes on the side of the highway, excited by one another's presence. He gave me a detailed account of what to expect from all of the roads around Lake Tahoe that cross through the mountain range into California. It was great talking with another biker kindred spirit. He decided to do the trip after getting laid off and collecting the gear to do the trip over the last few years. He also recommended I stop at the next Pony Express stop at Middlegate to get lunch, but run out if the bar tender whips out his guitar, because he got stuck there the other night and then the next day with a huge hangover, haha. So I did that heeding his words, and had a great burger.
From there I passed a famous big tree here on highway 50 that stands out (since there are no trees around) and because it's covered in shoes people have thrown on it. I was daydreaming and I almost missed it had it not been for a nice Harley parked in front of it. I ended up having a nice chat with the biker, Wayne, who also recently got laid off like the touring biker I met earlier, so he's been biking around the US from place to place for the last 2 months. Wayne was from Colorado, originally from New Hampshire, if I remember right. He's always owned motorcycles more than cars. Wayne also did a lot of cycling in Colorado until recently. He took some pictures of me by the tree and his bike, which he promised to send me if he gets around to a computer. He also gave me an "I survived Highway 50" pin he picked up in Austin, saying I deserved it more, haha. I left him with a RUB (Rich Urban Biker, as he told me they're called) that he just finished down talking (he passed through Sturgis as well, though he said he came early, to avoid the crowds and the RUBs). It was painful seeing the 50-something guy come up to him after our conversation about RUBs, saying "I just bought a Harley, I haven't picked it up yet though, it's still in the shop" and the guys wife asking "Now, before you go, do the Harley's come sounding the way they do, or do you do something" as I rode off, haha. Sorry Wayne.
Then I rode through Nevada's Navy training grounds, where I watched jets doing laps and blowing things up (well at least I heard it). It was nice going slow, as opposed to the 70mph cars, because I could see the jet coming back over and over again. But then, after all of my struggles with the tube, the end came.
My rear tire finally wore out to its last thread. So I had to change it to my spare tire. However, that didn't bode well for my leaking valve. It didn't like the new tire, and wouldn't hold air. So I started trying to fix it again, and went to plan C: Do surgery on the tube. I cut a slit in the tube, since the slime I bought can't go into a presta valve, and pumped up the tire with the sealant, hoping it would seal the valve leak. However, I couldn't get the patches to stay on top of the slit I had to cut (about 2mm). That's when I gave up after 2 hours, and was about to start thumbing for a ride, but luckily, I survived the tire problem thanks to a wonderful couple and their kids traveling from Salt Lake City to Sacramento. Both Curtis and Melissa are nurses in Salt Lake City, and they were headed to see Curtis's family in Sacramento. Curtis used to live in the San Francisco area when he attended college there. He used to race and he was a bike messenger in both San Francisco and Sacramento (he says he's been hit by cars 4 times). I had a great ride with them. If you guys are checking out this blog, I really appreciate you stopping and offering the ride, you really helped me out, and I had a great time talking (even with Tommy screaming! haha) Thanks so much!
So tomorrow, I'll be crossing over into CALIFORNIA if all goes well!! For now it's time to shower, because it's been days. Then making up that motel day with snacks that never came until now;)
Hey, glad to hear you made it, but what a bummer about the bike! I was thinking as we drove around Tahoe the next day that there was something I forgot to tell you: part of the eastern calif route you were planning is the route for the "Death Ride" century each year. http://www.deathride.com/
ReplyDeleteTake care,
-Curtis, Melissa and the kids.