July 25 Crossing America

Austin, NV – Middlegate, NV distance 64 miles, rode them all
Total distance traveled through today 3,513 miles, 2,950 on my bike.

OK, so I thought I’d been getting a good night sleep but last night on a pillow top
mattress at the Cozy Mountain Motel was one of the best night sleeps I can ever
remember.  After finishing yesterday’s journal I laid down, must have fallen asleep almost instantly and didn’t wake until 5:45 when Ike knocked on the door.   I slept so sound that I was groggy as I stumbled to the door to let Ike in.  That was a good night’s sleep.

Today for the first time Ike and I rode together for the entire day.  Our first 5 miles were a great 40+ mph downhill, then another 5 miles of slight uphill grade followed by a 13 mile
uphill climbing Mt. Airy the final major mountain pass we will climb in Nevada.

Mt Airy Pass the last one we had to climb in Nevada

We did have one smaller pass The New Pass to climb and a final hump which turned out to be tougher than either of the mountain passes as we picked up a 20 mph headwind.

Last pass

There seems to always be some additional challenge to completing a day’s ride.  After stopping at Cold Spring for a cool drink Ike and I decided to see if we could catch four riders of another MS group (2 seventeen year olds and two 18 year olds) riding across America who had about a ¾ mile head start on us.  We still had the headwind but riding as a two man draft team we were able to achieve speeds up to 27 mph in our chase staying only a couple feet apart.   We did it!  A 61and a 65 year old caught up to the young pups.  It made us pretty proud of ourselves, I might add.  We’re just kids at heart.

Ike and I arrived about an hour and half ahead of anyone else in our group at
Middlegate.  Now that did surprise us.  Amazing how much faster and less
energy it requires when you ride even a two man pace line (both bikes staying
within 2 feet of each other).  The possible down side is if you happen to bump wheels as one or both of you will go down.  That said it’s worth doing if all riders involved stay alert.  I do have to add Ike took the lead, the position which requires more effort, and basically pulled me through most of the day.   Thanks Ike it was very nice of you and  you’re my Road Angel today.

About two miles before Middlegate we saw a 20 man National Forest Service team throwing shoes into a huge tree at the side of road.  We had to stop and investigate what was going on.  We learned there had been a tree next to the one they were now throwing shoes into but vandals cut it down this past New Year’s Eve.  The tree had had thousands
of pairs of shoes from forest fire fighters of the past in it.  Today these firefighters were reestablishing their tradition.  Good for them, don’t let some jerks ruin a tradition.

Forest Service Firefighters throwing shoes in tree keeping tradition alive

Before departing the guys gave us Gatorade and cold water which we gladly accepted after having chased youngsters down the road.

Middlegate is a wide spot in the road, for real; it consists of a bar/café, motel and nothing
else.  We are camping at the side of the bar in a picnic area they have.  We don’t have showers but they do have an above ground pool which some of us took advantage of, felt nice.  The bar also serves up a pretty good hamburger and lots of beer.  Yep, I needed to replenish my carbs from today’s fast and hard ride. The firefighters were in the bar and a couple of them were playing pool.  After a couple beers decided I’d ask if I might challenge the table.  They said sure but warned me Captain Louie had the table, meaning he was winning the games, was a pretty good player.  I just barely beat him, got lucky I guess.  Then their #2 best pool player took me on and dang I beat him to but just barely, must be my lucky day.  That brought up #3 firefighter to challenge me but before we could finish the game a fire call came in and they had to depart due haste.  Half of them didn’t even get
to eat their lunch.  Ike and I wished them well and to stay safe.  They were a good bunch of guys and proud to have made their acquaintance.  Oh yea, Ike took over the game for the
firefighter I was playing.  I can’t believe it again I barely won the game.  Must be my lucky day, hmmm?

That’s all from the road today.  I think I’ll have a couple more beers as I need to carb load for tomorrow.

Shadow led the way and urged me to keep up with Ike

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