Day 73 - Blinded by the light

Well, first off all we have to admit that after our love letter to Utah our last day before entering Nevada was one of the worst days on our trip...

We stayed in Milford where we met three cyclists going east and we all spent the night together in the city park. As we arrived Marian noticed he had a flat tire on his back wheel, so he had a perfect activity for the afternoon. Next to the park there was a church celebrating the bible school summer camp and after a short while we got invited for hotdogs and drinks. We had some interesting conversations and after the pastor showed us the curch we decided to have an early night. The next day we had to do a 85 mile (136km) stage without any services (no water, no towns, no houses, no nothing) and because it gets really hot immediately after the sunrise we decided to do a night ride. So we didn't set up our tent for the short night but slept on the benches in our sleepingbags. Our day started at 1.30am and we've been on the road at 2am. The first miles were easy, we were in a good mood, even if we startet with a long climb to the first pass. The temperature were in the 50s and around 5am it even got colder so we had to put on our jackets. On the long downhills we were freezing like hell. After the second pass we had heavy headwind and it didn't stop until we reached our destiation Baker. It took us almost 1,5 hours to climb the third pass, because of the headwind and the uphill we only went 6 miles an hour (10kmh). It seemed to be an endless day... As we reached Baker after 4260ft (1300m) altitude difference (uphill) we got into a motel and went to bed immediately. Thanks Utah for another, well... unforgetable day!

The next day we acutally realized the first time that we were in Nevada now. We were told it is the state with the most mountain ranges and we were proofed right. This state just consists of mountains and valleys. We did three of those passes on our route the day before, and we had 13 more to go. Once you are on the summit and drive into the next valley you can see the the road for miles and miles. Those valleys seem to be endless and you dont have any scale for proportions. So you just keep on pedaling until you reach the part of the valley which is almost flat until you have to climb onto the next pass. But until you reach the part where you can see and feel the uphill you first have to deal with those 'invisible climbs'. You dont see them, you just wonder why you are going slower and slower and why it is so exhausting. And just if you turn around you see that you climbed...

So this is how a normal day in Nevada looks like for us. Get up early, defeat the mountains, enjoy the downhill, defeat the heat and go to sleep. Then repeat. Most of the times we didn't have any service stops along the road, so we had to carry water for the whole day. But we prepared ourselfes very good and we didn't have any problems. Today on our ride to Fallon the landscape really was dessertlike. No trees, no bushes but even a big dune called 'sand mountain'. We passed a couple of army bases (No, not Area 51, and no, we didn't see any UFOs) and not far away from our route they used to test atomic bombs in the underground. Scary!

Now we are very close to California and actually we are way faster then expected. So we think about doing some off route trips the next days. We are now heading to Lake Tahoe where we'd like to spend the weekend and celebrate the 4th of july on monday. And by the way: if you wonder why we called this post 'blinded by the light'... well we had a lot of sun and a song we couldn't get out of our heads anymore:  Click

Hints for cyclists: 

- Cozy Mountain Motel, Austin, NV (very nice owner!)
- Middelgate Station, Middelgate, NV (delicious burgers!)
- Sand Mountain, on Hwy 50 between Middelgate and Fallon, NV

Total mileage: 5831km (3644 miles)

Welcome to Nevada. 13 miles (22km) to the 'end' of the road. At least one hour of pedaling...

A break on the summit of our second pass right before sunrise.

And one hour later it started to get hot.

Second flat tire on Marians bike within 72 hours. It was like the tubes expired after 5400km...

Problem fixed.

Entertainment on lonely roads.

It's the wild wild west...

...and the dry dry west.

Look! A curve! Better buckle up!

Was this an UFO behind us?

Oh, just a car.

Yay, civilisation!

Nevermind...

The sand mountain

#selfie #nevada #middleofnowhere

A little visitor