Live for the Path

80 miles in 8.75 hours – Max Speed: 48mph (!!)

As the night wore on it became obvious that I wasn’t going to get much sleep, the ex-gang members were incredibly loud, despite being asked by just about everyone, including the ranger, to quiet down. Oh well. I got up at 5:30 having gotten no REM sleep. Tim and Tim were not there either. I packed up and hit the road at around 6:30. I went to a little restaurant and general store at the top of the campgrounds, which did not open until 7:00. I ate some sandwiches that I had and relaxed outside.

Once they opened I stocked up on snacks and drinks, because I knew there were no services for the first 35 miles of my trip. This doesn’t sound like much, but when you are gaining 5000 vertical feet during those 35 miles, it takes a long time to do.

I started out and slowly made progress. I thought I could make the Carson Pass, about 45 miles away by 3pm, which would be an average of just over 5mph. As I grinded along the road, it became clear that I was not going to make it.

Mountain Flora

GPS is pretty cool.

Yup

Brr

Blurry hitchhiker

Mossy trees

Mountains and trees.

Snow, right next to me.

More of the same

The views almost made the climb worth it.

This ride was extremely exhausting, and I finally reached the end of the first, road, just 32 miles long, at around 2pm. I rode down a large hill, giving up 1000 of my hard earned vertical feet and stopped for a snack at Silver Lake.

Silver Lake

After filling up my water bottles, and eating a bunch of junk food (no restaurant open) I started back up another 1000 foot hill. Once I reached the summit of that (Carson Spur) I rode down another 500 foot hill into a town called Kirkwood.

Caples Lake. I feel like gravity does not like lakes at 8000 feet above sea level.

I sighed, kept going, and at 5pm, finally reached Carson Pass, at 8500 feet.

The bike looks pretty fresh.

The rider, on the other hand, does not. You can tell how much it took because I am down to just short sleeves and shorts despite the cold.

I then had the greatest ride of my life. I went down 4000 feet over the next 30 miles, which I probably did in just over an hour. I averaged 40 mph for long periods of time, and had I not been following a big rig, would have reached 50. This ride was absolutely amazing and really beautiful.

The only picture I took on the way down. It is too bad because it really was beautiful, but I was too busy going fast to bother with pics.

I made it to the Nevada border in no time.

Finally, a new state.

Looking back towards the mountains as the sun goes behind them.

I rode into the town of Menden, and looked for a place to stealth. Problem is that it was totally flat and all fenced off farmland – not the best for stealthing. I looked around main street, and saw some cheap looking motels. After making some phone calls and checking some reviews on google (in Starbucks, clearly), I got a room in one of them and quickly fell asleep.

Night