Day 3 and 4
Last night I stayed at the Silver Lake West campground, located about 10 miles west (I believe) and about 1000 ft below Carson Pass. Yesterday might have been the hardest riding I've ever done. I climbed about 7000 ft, starting in Placerville. I was riding through hail and rain the last seven or eight miles, after the temperature had dropped from a balmy 70 to about 55. That climb was so hard. I'd like to attribute part of it to the fact that my bike has a lowest gear of 34:30 (with the 34 in the front) which would be fine normally, but it's super hard with 50 pounds of gear on the back of the bike. It was also hard because I feel that I'm not in proper shape (yet) for 60+ mile days. I have some beautiful shots of the Sierra Nevada mountains from yesterday and today. As soon as I can upload the photos from my phone (which is dead) to the cloud, I'll put them up. I've biked through some truly beautiful places.
I'm writing from the Dayton public library. Dayton is in Nevada! I made it across one state! By tomorrow I'll have traveled about 300 miles! The ride today wasn't so bad. My back has been hurting a little, which makes me think I should reduce the amount of drop on my bike. I got to Dayton just fine, after eating a dope omelet in Carson City. I had potatoes and eggs and toast with butter... It was utterly delicious. I think the scariest part about the next couple of days is the fact that even if I don't want to keep biking, I have to. Unlike other places I'll be traveling through, there are no places where I can stop if I get tired. There will be a few legs in the next week or so where there will be nothing in between towns. No water, no food, just scrub and mountains. I talked to a park ranger at Carson pass who said that Nevada was the hardest part of his ride across the country. He said the hills are brutal and the landscape is unforgiving. I'm scared, but also damn excited. Bring it on. I've been considering a little math during my long bouts in the saddle, so for those of you who are hungering for some LaTeX in this blog, get excited.
I'm writing from the Dayton public library. Dayton is in Nevada! I made it across one state! By tomorrow I'll have traveled about 300 miles! The ride today wasn't so bad. My back has been hurting a little, which makes me think I should reduce the amount of drop on my bike. I got to Dayton just fine, after eating a dope omelet in Carson City. I had potatoes and eggs and toast with butter... It was utterly delicious. I think the scariest part about the next couple of days is the fact that even if I don't want to keep biking, I have to. Unlike other places I'll be traveling through, there are no places where I can stop if I get tired. There will be a few legs in the next week or so where there will be nothing in between towns. No water, no food, just scrub and mountains. I talked to a park ranger at Carson pass who said that Nevada was the hardest part of his ride across the country. He said the hills are brutal and the landscape is unforgiving. I'm scared, but also damn excited. Bring it on. I've been considering a little math during my long bouts in the saddle, so for those of you who are hungering for some LaTeX in this blog, get excited.