A Blog To Be Named Later

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-

Fallon, NV > Cold Springs Station, NV

Miles Ridden – 63.7

Mileage to date – 387.6

“Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred”

Above is a quote from an advertisement for Pony Express riders. I am sure that some of my more astute readers may have guessed by now we are largely following the Pony Express route across Nevada. After spending a day in this remote area, I can only imagine how challenging it was out here 150 or so years ago as a young rider.

I assumed today would be Easy Peasy Part Deux. It seemed like a pretty straight forward ride except the part about 43 miles without any services. We were on schedule for a 7 am departure when John noticed that his bike had a flat tire in the hotel room! He quickly changed the flat. The culprit was yet another “goat head”-

We cruised out of town at a nice pace. We stopped 5 miles out at a convenience store to grab a cold water and use the restroom before we rode the 43 miles up to Middlegate Station.

It was really pleasant riding under cloudy skies which kept the temperatures fairly mild. We were stopped at about 23 miles out due to a road construction. It was single lane for about 5 miles. We had about a 20 minute delay and while we waited the fellow in the truck next to us started talking to us. He is active Navy and told us that the area all around us was part of the Fallon Naval Air Station and they do lots of training here including Topgun. He also said we might see them dropping bombs today! But we did not. He told us we might see a guy at Middlegate who seems like he is talking to you but he is really talking to himself. But we did not.

We ascended Sand Spring summit (4600 ft) and descended it a 7 mile long basin where we encountered some fierce cross winds which slowed us down a lot. We then ascended Drum Summit (4600) where John got his 2nd flat of the day. As soon as we started riding we were met with a nasty headwind.

We grinded on to Middlegate Station and we met a young man named Devan who is walking across America. He started last 9/11 in Delaware and was trying to finish in San Francisco on 9/11. Pretty amazing.

We had lunch at Middlegate Station. The place seemed like a cross between North Exposure and Twin Peaks. I asked the bartender if they sold bike tubes since they had a small minimart in there. She said no, but said that she was going to Fallon and would bring us back one. She said we should camp there as further up was for folks that had “survival training”. She eventually told us that she had to work and would not be going to Fallon.

We soldiered on after lunch and rode 14 miles uphill with some head winds to Cold Springs which is really nice restaurant/motel/RV park. They are current housing a bunch folks working on a Geothermal plant nearby. They also had a group of Nevada Firefighters staying in a field next door. John looked at them and said “those are real men”.

They let us camp out back for $10. We patched our tubes, had a nice dinner, did laundry and turned in for the night.

Tomorrow should be an easier day. We will head up to Austin which is 50 miles from here. We are at 5500 feet and Austin is at 6600 feet. We will spend the next several days at 6000 feet or higher.

A few photos.

6 liters extra water that John carried-

It sure is –

Rest room –

Scenes from Middlegate Station –

Cold Springs Station scenes –