Day 9: Powering Through

Course: Austin, NV to Eureka, NV

Mileage: 70

Conditions: Windy and hot

Average speed: 15.6 mph

Scenery: The same. Again.

We woke up knowing that today would be just another day in the desert. I rode with Jeff and Derek. We headed out as the second pace line, and immediately hit a steep hill. After the hill we had a fun downhill that we hit about 33mph on, but that was to be short lived. The downhill came to an end and we hit rolling hills and headwind kicked in. Long story short, that was the entire ride. Jeff pulled us pretty well and considering the wind we were able to average a decent pace. We were tempted to waste a lot of time at crew stops since we felt lazy, but we moved quickly. For the last ten miles of the ride we hit hills and the heat kicked in. We made it to town and just like yesterday, the town seemed to be at the top of the world. The combination of the two hills just left us exhausted and bitter.  Luckily, after a shower, we had a 4 hour break to nap.

The town was pretty cool. It seemed like something out of an old western movie. There were saloons and bars and a general store and more that all looked pretty western. Notice how I made saloons and bars plural.

We had dinner with the Lion’s Club of Eureka. They’ve been sponsoring meals at the house we went to for over 20 years. They gave us a ton of spaghetti and cake, so I gorged on a few plates of spaghetti and a couple pieces of cake. It never ceases to amaze me how much I eat since I started the ride. I wouldn’t have finished one plate of spaghetti prior to riding, but now I can finish three. In my last blog I said that we headed to Ely today, but we actually went to Eureka. Tomorrow we head for Ely.