Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Elko to Wendover NV 107 miles 759 miles cum
















What a day, I have seen things in Nevada that I never expected. From farms to forests to deserts, all with their own unique beauty!
The day started early, load luggage at 5:45 and breakfast at 6:00Am. Bruce and I started out about 6:30Am. It was cold so we were dressed pretty warm. We started down the road ahead of most of the other riders. We picked up Mary and she rode along with us for awhile. It wasn't long before the "hammers" started to come blasting by. They are called hammers because all they want to do is go as fast as they can to get to the hotel. They don't really take the time to see the sights.
We rode to the first Sag stop at the 40 mile mark. By that time it started to warm up so I took off my leg and arm warmers along with my jacket as we had 12 mile hill to climb. I took some fantastic pictures up to the Sag as we were riding in farm and ranch country.
After the Sag, I stopped about 8 miles down the road for some Starbucks coffee to get pumped up for the hard part of the ride. Nobody else stopped so I rode by myself to the next Sag stop. I really don't mind riding by myself as I can stop to take pictures when I want and stop for a break when I want. The climb wasn't too bad, certainly not as hard as Mt Rose or Donner Pass. I climbed through Pine forest as I went up. I was surprised to see Pine trees. I had always thought Nevada was all desert.
At the second Sag, I caught up with Dave. He had skipped breakfast to get an early start as he is not a fast hill climber and he didn't want to be too long in getting up. The problem is he is extremely fast downhill so I let him go ahead again so he wouldn't have to pass me on the way down. It was another 6 mile let it all out downhill run. A lot of fun.
We had another 5 mile climb as we got closer to Wendover, I caught to about 6 folks as we neared the top of the last climb. As we topped the last hill, we could see the great salt flats stretching out towards Salt Lake City.
It certainly was a long day. Our first century of the ride but not our last. Tomorrow is a 117 mile day

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