Austin, NV > Eureka, NV
Miles Ridden – 71.0
Mileage to date – 508.1
Given the distance of today’s ride we were determined to get started riding at 7 am sharp. We rolled our bikes out of our rooms at 6 am and went down the street for a breakfast. One of the rules of bicycle touring is to eat until you are completely full and then eat some more. We did exactly that at breakfast. This was key because there are no services from Austin to Eureka.
We started climbing immediately and went up hill for 4 miles to Austin Pass at 7484 feet. We then went downhill for 2 miles and then up hill for 1-2 miles to Bob Scott summit at 7267 feet. There is small campground there where we were able to top off water bottles and use restrooms. The road surface from Austin out past Bob Scott summit was a fine grained gravel with oil applied to it. Unlike anything I have seen anywhere else. Naturally road crews were applying oil to the road as we rode through this morning!
On the way down from Bob Scott summit we met a cyclist ascending and stopped to chat with him. He had ridden out from Montana and immediately asked if one of us was John!? It turns out we met a young couple at dinner last night and they are cycling the same route as us. They were ahead of us this morning and met the cyclist from Montana. They told him to ask us if one of us is named John.
We then rode downhill some more and then eventually ascended Hickinson summit at 6546 feet about 25 miles out from Austin –
We went down hill a couple of miles and got on this straight away that goes for 30 miles and is pretty much flat –
We cruised along this stretch and made very good time as there were minimal winds and the temperatures were in the 80’s. One game I played to occupy myself was to count how many seconds passed from when I saw a car to when they passed us. My record was 180 seconds. Which means assuming they are driving 75 mph and we are riding at 15 mph, we were about 4.5 miles apart when I first spotted them. Feel free to check my math as I did that in my head to occupy the time as well 😀!
It is really hard to convey the vastness of this landscape. It is truly amazing and unlike anything I have ever seen.
About 50 miles out we caught up to the young couple when they stopped for a break. We chatted for a bit and rode with them for a while. The last 5 miles were uphill into Eureka and we were glad to get to our hotel. Naturally, when we rolled into the hotel John got a flat tire. He is getting really good and fixing them!
The housekeeper showed me the 2 different room types available on the 1st floor. There is no elevator. She said to me “I can’t believe we have so many guests tonight!” I replied “well it is Labor Day weekend”. She then said “well who would want to come here?” Well Ok then
This is pretty nice hotel. After all don’t all nice hotels have a little guy like this waiting for you on the bed?
I squished it and a bunch of baby spiders ran across the bed! Welcome to Eureka. Needless to say we got assigned a new room.
Eureka does seem like a nicer place than Austin. It has a population of 610. It also was former mining town which had a population of 10,000 in the late 1880’s. There are more services here than Austin.
The plan tomorrow is to ride to Ely which is about 78 miles away with no services in between (naturally). There will be more climbing tomorrow. We did about 3000 feet today and tomorrow will be more like 5000 feet. We will wake early, eat as much as we can and then eat some more.
Time for dinner.
Pictures from today-
I’m so enjoying your blog! It’s like taking the trip without doing any of the work. It certainly is beautiful out there. 2 questions: 1. Does the high elevation affect your riding performance? And 2. Where were you when I was struggling through Algebra?
Glad to be of service! I think we have gotten used to the elevation and it is not a huge impact. The 1st few days we noticed some. I think it helped in that it took bout 3 days to get to the highest elevations which gave us time to acclimate a bit. I was probably 3 chairs over in algebra!
I am thoroughly enjoying your adventures both the narrative and the photos. It’s amazing!
Thanks
I’m enjoying it, too! All except for the spider tale. 😉 The photos are great on this one! That old Opera House is so cool.
So amazing! Eating as much as you can and then more makes all that riding almost sound worth it. Good luck with the forecasted heat. Hope it somehow passes you by. No more ‘s word’ pics though, please, or I’ll have to unfollow you. Yikes!
Love the blog and glad you guys are having a good time.
We call it chip seal – “The road surface from Austin out past Bob Scott summit was a fine grained gravel with oil applied to it. Unlike anything I have seen anywhere else. Naturally road crews were applying oil to the road as we rode through this morning!”. Nothing like fresh chip seal for loose gravel and oil.
Envy you seeing this part of the country. The uphill riding, not so much.