Home, home on the range where the deer and the antelope play...
Leaving Cold Springs this morning it was a bit chilly. I wore both the arm and legs plus my welding cap (cotton helmet liner) and a wind breaker. After an hour I was able to take off the arms because it had warmed up to about 60 from 40 F. The scenery was more basins and ranges. The smell of the sage grass was quite strong early. The sun mostly hid behind patchy clouds. All day thunderstorms and rain could be seen at different points in the basins. After a couple of hours and about 20 miles I came to resurfacing road work. I was able to ride through on my own, but all other cars and trucks needed to have a lead car to follow. This turned out to be quite nice for the rest of the day’s ride. The one-lane traffic and lead car meant that traffic was stopped for about 30-40 minutes before being released. For the rest of the day I’d have no cars for 45 minutes or so and then they’d all come by in a few minutes. I’d pull over, wait for them all to go by then the road would be mine for another 40 plus minutes.
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Gathering clouds
The two summits had very shallow grades up them and I could pretty much just pedal all the way up. After the second pass, there was a 13 mile coast to within three miles of Austin. I had not been counting on all the rooms in Austin being full. Road work crews. So I had a cheese burger at the International Hotel that is now only a bar and cafe. After a long lunch, I headed up to the local Baptist church that also had a camp ground. It was not scenic or appealing but I didn’t have it in me to do another 1500′ to the campsite outside of town.
At the campground I met two Swedes. One going east and the other west. I had dinner with them at the other restaurant in town – Toiyabe Cafe. (not as good food or service as the International Hotel) The westbound Swede, Pear, worked as a stagehand for an opera company. He had gone on the Trans Am route two years ago and wanted more. This time he did the Rockies by mountain bike. He was on his way to SF to end his trip that started in May. He said most years he has five months of vacation — “Usually it’s about enough.” The other Swede heading East, Jian, originally from Tianjin decided to see more of the USA before heading back Sweden for business school.
Start: Cold Springs Station, NV
End: Austin, NV
Today’s mileage: 53.6 miles
Total miles so far: 510 miles
Average speed: 10.3 mph
Max speed: 28.6 mph
Riding time: (07:45 to 14:15) 6.5 hours
Total riding time: 73.5 hours
Weather: mostly cloudy, 45-75 F, light winds, isolated thundershowers
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