By: Kate Pearce
So today’s my blog day, but nothing that exciting happened so be forewarned. Well, I did see an antelope for the first time which I thought was pretty cool. I didn’t get a picture but here’s a random antelope picture from Google. We can pretend.
I biked with Delia, and An and Alex also embarked early this morning. It was nice and cool, borderline cold, when we set out. It was great, especially since I knew that it would hit 90 with incredibly hot sun later on in the day.
Our ride was a mere 60 miles today, and the elevation gain was a little over 2500 feet I think. As we have been for all of Nevada, we continued to bike all day on Route 50, “the loneliest road in America.” It was gradual uphill for a bunch of the day, but the main punch was at the end. It was about 7 miles of 6% grade winding up the mountains. Ending the day with that part was tough but good. I’m still floored by all these mountains. For some reason I thought Nevada would be flat red dirt. I was wrong, as our successive mountain pass climbs seem to imply.
Headwinds also stymied us. Delia and I switched off leading about every 3 miles for most of the ride. Come the tough section at the end, though, that switch-off mark became 0.3 miles. We chugged along and made it to the campground around 12:30. All in all, the ride was “short” and we had all afternoon remaining.
I set a tarp under a tree, desperately seeking shade, and read for a while. Delia and I were super hungry and really wanted chocolate milk and fruit. We drove into the “town” of Austin, Nevada. It was what you’d expect. No grocery store, and there was a cash only gas station mart with no fresh fruit to be seen.
Our campsite at the Bob Scott Campground was nice, but it had no showers. I wondered if we could use the facilities at a nearby RV park, and it turned out we could. Getting a shower felt great. As I waited for others to shower, I read some more. I joked that we really need to be biking more since I’ve had too much time to read. In the past 24 hours I read 2 good books! “For One More Day” and “Promise Me, Dad” were both really quick and meaningful reads. Also, earlier this week I read “The Art of Fielding” which was well-written and engaging.
I should really thank my mom for all of this. As you might imagine, checking out library books doesn’t really work on the road. When my dad drove down to visit in Kansas City, he brought a big bag full of books that my mom had acquired from the used books sale at my hometown library. (Wooh, Glencoe Public Library!) Thank goodness she knows what kinds of books I like. Good picks, Mom!
I’ve read a bunch from our “mini library” in the van, and miraculously I’ve really enjoyed each of them. It’s fun, too, how we trade around books on the team. Recommending books to each other and then discussing them has proven to be pretty great. Delia recommended “Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” earlier on in the trip. Then, Matt read “When Breath Becomes Air”, and now that has circulated to me, An, and Lisa as well. This cycle has continued with many other books as well. I really enjoy how we all read and literally share our books in the “Book Bag” in the van.
There’s not much else to say about the day. It was kind of another regular old Spokes day in the life. Tomorrow should be interesting... 116 miles, our longest ride yet. It’s 8:22pm here at the campground, and I’m writing this on my phone in the tent. The sun isn’t even fully gone yet, but we are headed to bed. We’ll snuggle into our sleeping bags for a cozy nights sleep before the long day tomorrow. Some will be colder than others (ahem, Delia with her 55 degree bag... how she survived the Rockies, I don’t know) but hopefully we’ll all get good rest tonight.
