A Long and not-so-Winding Road

Today was another one of those scary on-paper rides: 110 miles from Austin to Fallon through the Nevada desert with almost nothing in between.

Another lonely road. Too bad it's so f-ing rough

Nothing in between Austin and Fallon except these curious onlookers

I had been worried about availability of water in these long empty stretches. Fortunately the cooler temperatures we've had make that less of an issue. On each of the last three days I've used less than 2 liters for the whole ride.

Our daily ritual: dress warm, then a series of roadside stripteases

Our motel last night, while adequate, lacked one essential feature: a coffee maker in the room. So when we awoke I went to the convenience store next door and bought coffee. It was my fourth transaction at the same store since arriving yesterday afternoon. (1. snacks and a toothbrush for bike-washing; 2. beer; 3. items for breakfast and today's ride; 4. coffee)

The ACA maps offer an alternate route on NV-722 for the first half that is 2 miles shorter, and more scenic, but includes a 1200 foot climb over Carroll Summit. After talking to the OATBRAN riders and staff, we decided to go for it. Overall I think it was a good choice, but the crappy road surface very much detracted from it. In fact we spent most of the day (probably 90 miles of the 113 total) on rough chipseal roads. That, combined with the same basin-ridge-repeat scenery of the past 4 days, made for a somewhat utilitarian ride. We got the job done, but it was more function than form.

Cresting Carroll Summit: our second-to-last "real" climb of the trip

Moo

One of the advantages of the alternate route was that the road was almost completely empty. In 60-ish miles we saw fewer than 10 cars.

After that we rejoined the main route on US-50. For a road billed as the "loneliest in America" it's actually pretty busy. I suppose it's one of those self-defeating things: Nevada promotes it for its emptiness, and all the tourists come.

Probably the highlight today was our lunch stop at Middlegate Station, which is a little cafe in the middle of nowhere:

It even says M.O.N.

Many other cyclists have refueled here

Oddly enough, for being so remote, it was pretty busy. While we were there a group of classic British cars rolled in. This is maybe the third or fourth rally of this kind that we've seen. We started talking to one of the drivers, named Sam. He had a 1960 Morgan that had been in his family since it was new. I learned that Morgan is the only remaining British-owned car company, and the oldest privately held car company in the world.

I couldn't find the start button, otherwise I'd have been outta here

Some of these cars have 400HP engines

There were also other forms of classic transportation in evidence:

The other highlight of our ride, if you could call it that, is that we were both fairly strong all the way. In particular, we crushed the last 30 miles, even in spite of a slight headwind. We rotated 2-mile pulls and kept a good pace. Often on a ride this long I fade badly toward the end and have to limp home, so it was nice to finish feeling good.

The Sand Mountain Recreation Area near Fallon

Our Holiday Inn Express  tonight is the polar opposite of last night's Pony Canyon Inn with its 10 rooms. The hotel gave us coupons for a 10% discount at the restaurant in the casino next door. We had a huge meal, with onion rings, salad, entree, baked potatoes, beer, and wine. When we went to pay, the clerks could not figure out how to apply the coupon (as if they'd never seen a coupon from the Holiday Inn next door). So they just applied some random discount, after which Tom's bill came to $1.05 and mine to $4 (because of the onion rings). Another jackpot!

Today's ride: 113 miles, 1 "real" climb and 2 mini climbs, and way too much chipseal. Tomorrow: California!