I had a pile of waffles at the motel to set me up for the longer than planned day ahead. I also pinched a few bagels for lunch! I got on the road at 8am and immediately joined the good old I-80 for today's blast across Nevada. Only two more days of interstate after today and then I should find some more interesting roads down through Cali.
After about an hour of steady climbing, I reached the top of my biggest climb for the day, the 'Emigrant pass', at 6114ft. It was then pretty much downhill for the rest of the morning!
Roadworks coned off the left hand lane forcing drivers onto my shoulder. So I hopped through through the cones to ride on the clear passing lane side of the road. It was like riding on the 'correct' side of the road again!
A little way along a workman crossed the freeway to stop and warn me that the traffic was about to switch lanes again and that the bridge over the next junction was a single lane with wet concrete and unfilled holes on the shoulder. I thanked him for the advice and took the exit to avoid the bridge, then rejoined the interstate. Once the roadworks had passed, a long section of the shoulder had thin rumble strips every few metres that I couldn't ride around. This became very tedious after a while and I longed for some flat tarmac!
I reached Battle Mountain at 12 where I had planned to stop today. A brief stop at a McDonalds to grab some wifi and a bucket of raspberry sweet tea and eat my packed lunch, and I was back on my way.
The rest of the afternoon was mostly spent descending, with the exception of one small climb up to 'Golconda summit' (5159 ft) that was made harder by the headwind that had developed and by the torn up road surface on the shoulder. I saw a work lorry putting out cones, and it appeared that one company had started the job previously and had only just gotten round to finishing it. I tried riding the rough torn up road, but this was even more annoying and painful than the rumble strips earlier, so instead I had to stick to the white line and hope lorries saw me. This went on for about 10 miles!
The last 20 miles of today's ride were the toughest, as the headwind had built up and made the last few small climbs into Winnemucca a pain. But I got here, and I'm now a day ahead! The town itself is a fairly standard Nevada town, with a large helping of motels, casinos and Mexican restaurants.
I had plenty of choice for dinner... of which Mexican restaurant I'd like, and chose to have a 'Super Burrito' at a place called 'Las Margaritas'. Not the best Mexican I've ever had by a long shot, but the portion was huge and cheap, just what I needed after the long ride!
I'm looking forward to leaving the interstate behind at Reno for some more fun roads that'll take me into California (where you can't cycle on the interstate anyway!)
Miles today: 104.9
Total miles: 2841.5
After about an hour of steady climbing, I reached the top of my biggest climb for the day, the 'Emigrant pass', at 6114ft. It was then pretty much downhill for the rest of the morning!
Roadworks coned off the left hand lane forcing drivers onto my shoulder. So I hopped through through the cones to ride on the clear passing lane side of the road. It was like riding on the 'correct' side of the road again!
A little way along a workman crossed the freeway to stop and warn me that the traffic was about to switch lanes again and that the bridge over the next junction was a single lane with wet concrete and unfilled holes on the shoulder. I thanked him for the advice and took the exit to avoid the bridge, then rejoined the interstate. Once the roadworks had passed, a long section of the shoulder had thin rumble strips every few metres that I couldn't ride around. This became very tedious after a while and I longed for some flat tarmac!
I reached Battle Mountain at 12 where I had planned to stop today. A brief stop at a McDonalds to grab some wifi and a bucket of raspberry sweet tea and eat my packed lunch, and I was back on my way.
The rest of the afternoon was mostly spent descending, with the exception of one small climb up to 'Golconda summit' (5159 ft) that was made harder by the headwind that had developed and by the torn up road surface on the shoulder. I saw a work lorry putting out cones, and it appeared that one company had started the job previously and had only just gotten round to finishing it. I tried riding the rough torn up road, but this was even more annoying and painful than the rumble strips earlier, so instead I had to stick to the white line and hope lorries saw me. This went on for about 10 miles!
The last 20 miles of today's ride were the toughest, as the headwind had built up and made the last few small climbs into Winnemucca a pain. But I got here, and I'm now a day ahead! The town itself is a fairly standard Nevada town, with a large helping of motels, casinos and Mexican restaurants.
I had plenty of choice for dinner... of which Mexican restaurant I'd like, and chose to have a 'Super Burrito' at a place called 'Las Margaritas'. Not the best Mexican I've ever had by a long shot, but the portion was huge and cheap, just what I needed after the long ride!
I'm looking forward to leaving the interstate behind at Reno for some more fun roads that'll take me into California (where you can't cycle on the interstate anyway!)
Miles today: 104.9
Total miles: 2841.5
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