Miley Cyrus is a lyrical genius. Change my mind.
Her body of work includes masterpieces such as “Wrecking Ball”, “Hoedown Throwdown”, and “Nobody’s Perfect.” The song I’d like to talk about today, though, is the lyrical brilliance entitled “The Climb.” Miley Cyrus must have also ridden a bicycle along Nevada’s Route 50, because she says it best with the lines “There’s always gonna be another mountain/I’m always gonna wanna make it move/Always gonna be an uphill battle.” Indeed, this is exactly what we experienced today: two large hills (I refuse to call them mountains, though they did have summits) on a 70-mile ride from Baker, NV to Ely, NV.
I think that I’m finally improving as a cyclist (who knew it was possible), because I didn’t find 6 miles at a 6% grade to be particularly horrible. Challenging, yes, but I made it and at no point was I genuinely concerned that my legs were going to fall off. This was not the case in the Appalachians. To be fair, the road-building strategy in the 1700s was more of see-that-mountain-yeah-that-mountain-let’s-go-right-over-it sort of a vibe, which meant that we spent a good two and a half weeks charging directly over mountaintops in Virginia and Kentucky. Once the pioneers started to move out west, though, they discovered the wisdom of using valleys and properly graded roads. I am thankful to those dedicated souls who spent hundreds of hours building nice roads out west because I no longer feel as though death is imminent when I climb hills. Thanks, guys.
After a long and somewhat difficult journey, we made it to our campsite at the Ely KOA at around 3 in the afternoon, which gave us plenty of time to relax. I watched a lot of YouTube videos and took care of other chores because KOAs are ~fancy~ campgrounds with ATV parks, laundry, showers, and other amenities not typically available in the Great Outdoors.
We had some pasta dinner, which was good, and then we went to bed. It wasn’t a particularly interesting day, but I did listen to Miley Cyrus a lot. I’d like to leave you with the wise words of Hannah Montana (who knew she and Miley were the same? What a shocking fact.)
“Ain’t about how fast I get there/Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side/It’s the cliiiIIiImb.”
// Delia “One Long Ab” Stephens