I can tell everyone is getting tired. Nine days of cycling in a row takes its toll. Tired legs. Sore behinds. A bunch of us started in a large group meandering along at around 14 mph, chatting and generally lallygagging. But the problem with riding so slowly is that it may be easier on the legs but it means more hours in the saddle. Hmmm - dilemma. Brad from Ohio and I did the breakaway after around 10 miles.
The day was beautiful. Mostly sunny, cool. The ride was mile after mile of large green expanses of sage brush, wildflowers and greenery framed by mountains. We are still at around 5000 feet elevation in the high desert - the sky is huge. We climbed Emigrant pass and had a fun 10 mile descent. Probably the highlight of the ride today was a 4 mile stretch through Carlin Canyon - which was a key route for the first railroad, road and before that the pioneers going over the California trail on their way to the gold rush. Beautiful with dramatic rock formations and steep walls and wildflower covered riverbanks.
On the ride in the Canyon we met a guy who is the head of the Elko Velo club ... he was marking the road for a time trial coming up. He was telling us how unusual the weather was ... I guess it's usually 100 degrees and brown. I'll take the random rainstorms over that anytime. He was also saying how lucky we were not to have these crazy huge crickets that I guess come out and are everywhere. Bikes smash them and the pop cricket guts everywhere - ugh. They can be so bad they make the interstate slick and the highway patrol puts up warning signs. Funny that's not in the tour literature ...
We're in Elko getting ready for a long day tomorrow 107 miles with some climbing and a long descent to Wendover. Then another 100 + mile ride into Salt Lake. Long days ... hopefully no headwind. Make an offering to the wind gods for me ...
Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!!
10 years ago
