Day 8 (9/15/09) Fallon to Cold Spriings Station

We leave Fallon, still on a wonderfully smooth road surface and accompanied by Naval fighter planes out of the U.S. Naval station located just to the south of town. What a tremendous roar they make. We see them later after cresting Sand Springs Pass @ 4644 ft and heading down into Edwards Creek Valley. You could hear them but not see them. However the thud of the bomb and the large cloud of dust it produced was evidence of their target practice out in the old dry lake bottom valley. On over Drumm Summit @ 4600 ft and down to Middlegate where we meet up with Bill for a break at the old pony express station there. It was quite the Nevada experience which included cow punchers we had seen while riding come in on their horses. The station itself has probably not had cleaning or maintenance in 20+ years but it was entertaining and they made good hamburgers. We take several pictures one is to the left with us by I Survived The Lonest Road sign. The next picture is THE SHOE TREE just to the East of Middlegate! Guess this is what one does for fun in these parts. We end the day with a nice little climb over a rise (this is what we call a hard climb with no name) and down to our destination for the night, Cold Springs Station. This you would miss if you were driving by at 60mph. It was an old pony express stop. The main part burned down a year ago but luckily they still had four rooms, which while not camping, were almost like camping. We are ready for a rest and hot shower as somewhere in the middle of our ride the road surface turned to chip seal and the vibrating was tiring on hands and behinds. But then those two parts would get tired no matter what.

TOTALS: 2 passes - 64 miles

Day 7 Carson City to Fallon (9/14/2009)

Today we are off to Fallon, NV after a great rest day. The road
is smooth and riding easy once we leave the traffic of Carson City. After 11 miles of smooth going we stop in Dayton for what will probably be our last cappuccino for many days. We also have to stop there for our second flat, this time Kits' back tire. This day is a lot of flat, slightly down hill and one small section of road work. We must follow the pilot car and when she (the driver) waves us on she yells out, "Good Luck!". A gesture from a stranger whom we will never see again, but is so touching for us. We ride beside Lahontan Reservoir which Bill, our resident expert and history buff, tells us once, thousands of years ago, covered the entire Great Basin area which we are now riding through. Bill plays 9 holes of golf in Fallon and is done just as we arrive in Fallon. We find our way to the fairgrounds where, after a nice hot shower, we camp for the night in the shade of cottonwood trees. Only downside is the major Trucker Traffic at the intersection where we have set up our tents.

TOTALS: no passes - 67 miles

Day 6, REST DAY IN CARSON CITY

Thank goodness, we took a well-deserved and needed break. Bill found us wonderful rooms at a Marriott. There is a casino next door which offered us good inexpensive choices of dinner last night, lunch today, and we just finished a wonderful Italian dinner. First order of the day was MASSAGES that were perfect for our tender muscles. Cindy, our therapist, used a technique called Ashiatsu, holding on to bars suspended up on the wall, using both feet instead of her hands for a good part of the massage. It is incredible that someone can train their feet to be sensitive to the placement and condition of muscles. She had a wonderful sense of what we needed. Then did laundry here in the motel, cleaned our bikes, got groceries, re-organized, had a hot tub, then the day was over. It went by too quickly, no lounging time at all, but we can get back on our bicycles in the morning feeling refreshed. Tomorrow to Fallon, 61 miles of slight downhill to flat all the way. Weather looks good, cooler, slight chance of rain in the morning, and 10mph west winds. Sounds perfect. In case you were wondering what Chris is doing home alone without Martha....besides getting in that well deserved nap....

Day 5, Silver Lake to Carson City: Over Carson Pass!!!

What a wonderful moment it was when we got to the pass! Days ago it was hard to believe that we would really get here. It was a 14 mile ride from Silver Lake to the pass, and still uphill but much easier that the previous day. Weather was cool, cloudy, even some raindrops. Whew! The ride down was wonderful. At first it was steep and fast, but with very little traffic and not to twisty so we didn't have to wear out our hands on the brakes. Then a mellow downhill through the beautiful Hope Valley to Woodfords for lunch. By then we were out of the mountains and just skirting the foothills, following (as we had the day before) the Morman Immigrant Trail. Rain was chasing us from over the mountains and the rest of the afternoon We got to Genoa for espresso and gelatto (well, we earned it!) And at times mid-afternoon we were fighting a headwind. It was mostly downhill still to Carson City, but again we were tired from our first five days, with almost a 60 miles today. While this was the easiest yet, it was still another exhausting day. We are ready for our rest day. Bill had gone on ahead and got us rooms at the Marriott...a well deserved vacation. Below are photos of the east side of the Sierras heading into Genoa.

Day 4, Placerville to Silver Lake: Why Are We Doing This?

We can get up and out fine, but then immediately everything slows down. Martha was greeted in the morning by her first flat from a thorn, so while Kit and Bill did some grocery shopping, Martha changed a tire. It was 9am by the time we got on the road. The first five miles were somewhat rolling, then just uphill, in mostly low low gear, covering 18 miles in 2 hours from Placerville. Jenkinsen Lake (pictured above) was our lunch stop where we met Bill, our "water boy" and savior. Yes, hot once again. Our legs are so tired from each day of climbing. Beyond Jenkinsen Lake, the climbing got even more intense. For the next 2 hours our bike computers rarely showed more than 3.5-5 mph, covering only 10 miles in two hours. Kit got stung by a bee and Martha fell over coming to a stop, so we decided that when our water wagon came by again,we would admit defeat for the day and get a car ride to Silver Lake. So we cheated, stopping 13 miles short of our intended destination. Our mileage was (only) 28 for the day, but went from about 2000ft to 6500ft elevation, with a total elevation gain of 9869 according to Kit's gps. No wonder we were beat. As Martha was riding she thought that since between the three of us we know the entire route pretty well, we could just drive back to Marin and hang at Martha's brother's house for 5 weeks, and bullshit our way through the blog! Once in camp, we got set up, had showers, and wondered how we would survive the rest of the trip. Had have we taken on too much? Were we really Crazy Ladies, or Stupid Ladies, or just enduring a very formidable mountain range? Bill, bless his heart, did all the dinner prep and we enjoyed a comfortable camp, and had a good night's sleep to prepare us for the final ascent over Carson Pass.

Day 3, Davis to Placerville: Ready to Climb

The morning found us saying goodbye to our wonderful hosts and cycling out of Davis escorted by Bill's nephew, Andy. We wound are way through town. It is a bicycle-friendly city, many of the bike lanes are as wide as vehicle lanes! A causeway runs a good portion of the way between Davis and Sacramento with a bike lane to the side. If we weren't deaf in our right ears before we are now with the oncoming traffic right next to us separated by a concrete barrier and chainlink fence. We cruised along over the now-dry wetlands and rice fields. Once in Sacramento we got on the bike path at Old Town, with brick streets and many old storefronts and railroad museum right on the Sacramento River (pictured above.) The bike path winds through riparian areas along the river, away from city life and traffic. At lunchtime we met Martha's father-in-law, Alven, brother-in-law Mike and wife, Tracy, and brother-in-law, Terry, at the Aquatic Center at Lake Natomas along the river. That was a wonderful breather, and hearty lunch. By now the temps were getting pretty high. The rest of the day was climbing on the path to Folsom, then Green Valley Road towards Placerville, on a busy but wide street. We had to stop several times along the way for water and shade. The day's ride was 60 miles, with an overall elevation gain of 5144 feet. We were totally fried (once again) as we met our hosts in Placerville. After a refreshing shower we enjoyed the company of 6 of Kit and Bills very good friends. The photos below show my in-laws, and Kit and Martha at Lake Natoma at mid-day.

Days 1 and 2, Kansas Seems A Loooong Way Away

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We started our day dipping our wheels in the Pacific Ocean at Dillon Beach, CA. Only one wheel as we are only going 1/2 way across the country, and we didn't want to lug the bike all the way from the parking lot to the sea. We had a short but steep climb from the beach to Tomales. First stop (after 4 miles) was BREAKFAST. Then through gorgeous rolling hills over rolling roads amongst dairy cows. Through the lovely old homes of Petaluma and narrow, no shoulder, fast traffic towards Sonoma. After a lunch stop we headed up Trinity Drive/Oakville Grade. Several friends had suggested alternate route to Napa. What they should have said was DON'T RIDE THE GRADE UNLESS YOU THINK YOU ARE LANCE ARMSTRONG!!! It was straight up for 5 miles, no shoulder, lots of hairpin turns, no water and it was the dumbest thing we have ever done! Then straight down, no shoulder, lots of hairpin turns and no water and it was the dumbest thing we have ever done. The last 20 miles were much nicer but we were so exhausted we couldn't appreciate it. We arrived safely at our destination 69.64 miles later. Day Two was more climbing but a piece of cake compared to day one and through the lovely Berryessa hills covered with old oak trees and vineyards down into the Sacramento Valley and total flats to our desination in Davis were friends took fabulous care of us. After 55 miles and 94 degrees temps we were greated with tri-tip steak, grilled shrimp, pasta salad and a welcome glass of wine. Yummy. Kansas seems a looong way away. But we'll take it one pedal stroke at a time. Tomorrow we tackle the heat of the Sacramento Valley up to Placerville. Stay tuned for more.