Day 7: Fallon to Cold Spring Station, 62 miles

July 26. We've ridden 62 miles today and 2,293 feet of climbing at 13.5 mph. I think it's human nature to claim things. A bunch of Spaniards hit the West Indies, call it the New World and claim it or Spain. Nevermind that there wer already people there. The Brits were good at this too - arriving at some place they had never been, sticking the Union Jack in place, and claiming it for the King or Queen. ("Who ARE those people milling about watching us erect our flag?")Americans are good at claiming things too. Manifest Destiny? Here's some excellent real estate, it SHOULD be mine. Our sense of entitlement has a long history, but we limit ourselves to just one continent for the most part. No need to get greedy like some countries.

Mike and I claimed our territory at the Churchill County Fairgrounds campground Friday afternoon. We noticed the marquee listed the Nevada STate Paint Horse show scheduled for Friday and Saturday. With limited camping available, we thought it prudent to plant our flag (aka Sierra Designs Blue Clip Flashlight tent). Having staked our territory, we headed into town to take care of important explorer business like 1) eat ice cream and 2) visit the library.

Our visit to the library turned into an expedition of its own. 8 goatheads and 2 flat tires occupied us for at least an hour after we left the library. Hot and tired, we returned to the O'Donnell Territory (ideally situated between two shady cottonwood trees) to find a young couple approaching "our trees" from the south at the same time we were approaching from the east. Mike and I noted that the shade had migrated from our tent (I mean flag), requiring that we adjust the borders of our territory. I took a diversionary tactic, asking the couple about their dog (very sweet 1-year, named Gramps), while Mike took a more Conquistador approach, taking his mount (I mean his bike) and positioning it against the tree with the most shade.

All unnessary maneoveurs it turns out. The young couple and Gramps were part of a group of 8 Oberlin students who were riding their bikes from Ohio to San Francisco. These two had hitchhiked from Austin, NV, while the rest of their group rode (and 2 drove a support truck). Ben and Cathy gave us good tips for our journey eastward, since they had essentially taken the same route through Nevada, Utah and Colorado. (They stopped at the New Belgian Brewery in Fort Collins and got a private tour!) Cathy offered up tips like:
1) find a town pool and ask to shower there.
2) they had good luck asking churches to let them camp on their property.

Ben shared his beer with us - some yummy Sierra Nevada! I told him I passed a Sierra Nevada truck going the other way on 88 in CA. I waved, he honked...but no free beer. Guess I'll have to wait until Fort Collins for that.

It was a busy night at the campground. Later an older man from Laughlin, NV stopped by with his dog "Oneway" - so named because there is only one way with this dog - the dog's way.

All this campground socializing kept us up until 10 PM or so - later than we had been planning. We talked, once again, about getting up at 4:30 AM to beat the heat, but neither of us heard the watch alarm go off. We got rolling around 6:15 AM - so this is an improvement over past mornings! The first hour was chilly - about 55 degrees or so. We hit the road with almost all of our clothes on!

Today we rolled through big valleys, past Fallon Naval base, and up a couple of small passes. To Be Continued...

Day 6: Carson City to Fallon, NV

65 miles, 15 mph, and only 1211 feet of climbing! We got up at 5 AM with the intention of being on the bikes by 6. Not moving very fast at that hour, we didn't actually get rolling until 6:45. But it was still cool enough to wear a fleece, so we were happy to beat the heat. It was an easy 65 miles to Fallon (all downhill!), and we arrived in town by 11:30 or so to have lunch. (Awesome chinese food on Maine Street!) It's hot now, so we've set up camp at the fairgrounds. We're surrounded by Paint horses - evidently there is a big horse show tomorrow. Most of these horses look better than we do. I'm guessing they probably smell better too. Our tushes are still a bit in shock, so we're happy to spend the afternoon not riding.

Fallon is home to farmers, cowboys and Top Gun types. A strange sort of mix - but everyone we've met has been very friendly and helpful. We were delighted to see a cowboy in a Corolla as we rolled into town. His hat barely fit in the car.

Day 5: Rest Day in Carson City

If it's possible, I think I hear each individual cell in my legs crying out, "no mas!" Thankfully, I'm listening. We're kicking back in Carson City, visiting, not the casinos, but rather the library and the laudromat. Early morning start tomorrow.

Day 4: Bear River Reservoir (CA) to Carson City, NV

76.6 miles, 11 mph average, 6 hours-55 minutes, 5,180 feet of climbing: another big day of climbing up to Kirkwood for lunch and then the summit of Carson Pass at 8,630 feet. The descent was almost as good as the gelato in Folsom! Despite this, everything hurt - the accumulated effects of the past 3 days and limited (I mean, no)training. Mike talked me into continuing on to Carson City so that we could have a rest day, by saying that "it's all downhill from here." True - it's generally downhill but eventually it flattens out. Add 95 degrees and a strong crosswind, and it becamea very long 2 hours to Carson City! During the last 10 miles into CC, Mike looked back and said, "are you cursing the day I bought you your Bianci road bike?" And my reply was, "no, I'm just cursing you." After a big italian dinner, we felt much relieved - we were fed, watered and now have the biggest climb behind us.

Day 3: Placerville, CA to Bear River Reservoir

49.2 miles, 7.7 mph average, 7,467 feet of climbing. Mike just confessed that the real reason he bought the origami "fold-flat tableware" was, not because we really needed it, but rather because he knew it would entertain and delight me at the end of a long day. And he was right! Now that's love. And I seriously needed some delight because after all the climbing we did today, I'm tired and cranky. But the lake is cool and the view is beautiful. We made it through another day!

Day 2: Davis to Placerville

75.5 miles, avg. 11 mph, 3,586 ft. of elevation: a beautiful ride from Davis, 24 miles of bike trail next to the American River! Awesome birding. We cooled off in Folsom with lunch and real gelato - yum. Tough riding up to the Mother Lode hotel in Placerville...some steep grades, and then when you're good and tired, it's another couple of miles uphill to the hotel.

Day 1: Vallejo to Davis, 67 miles

67 miles, Vallejo to Davis, 13.5 mph avg., 55 degrees to 95 degrees! Vineyards, llamas, olive groves, walnut groves, so many bike paths in Davis that they have bike path roundabouts to handle the traffic! It was like riding in some parallel universe. Mike lost his sunglasses (already!), and we skidded into the rental car drop off place in Vallejo with about 30 seconds to spare...but other than that, it was a perfect day.

Where should we start?

Despite the heated argument we had about where to start our bike trip (you'd think we'd have that narrowed down by now), and the missed exit off 680, we arrived at my Aunt Kay and Uncle Ron's house in Pleasant Hill at about 3:30 PM on Saturday afternoon. Such a treat to see them again - they might be the coolest aunt and uncle ever! I say that even though they sided with Mike in the "where-to-start-the bike-trip" discussion. (Note that it has been downgraded to a "discussion" from the aforementioned "arguement".) After 7 hours in the car, we were ready to stretch our legs and so we took a nice walk around the block, where we learned that Kay, who is a massage therapist, used to work on Wendy "wingnut" Ingram (the triathalete). We were very impressed!

Neither Mike nor I had been to Berkeley so Kay and Ron were our most excellent tour guides and showed us the sights on the way to the city. Ron generously put aside his carniverous habits, acquiesing to dinner at Herbivore - a terrific vegetarian restaurant downtown. (Thanks for dinner Kay and Ron!)

We dropped Mike off at a bar to meet up with Marty - his friend from the old neighborhood back in PA. The bar was called the Roundup which, for these parts, is something of a dive. Marty commented that the Roundup has the most diverse white crowd you'll ever see. And Kay and Mike both said that the men's room smelled terrible. We're still not sure what Kay was doing in the men's room at the Roundup. She doesn't drink and she's not a man - it's a little puzzling. I think maybe she was lost. Kay, Ron and I left Mike and Marty at the Roundup to talk about the old days. This took about 4 Guinesses - which is good news to me. I'm thinking it might slow Mike down on Day 1 of the Big Ridge.