Great Basins

After yesterday's freeze-fest we were in no hurry to get going early. Especially when we looked at the thermometer:

And I was expecting Nevada to be hot

We had a relatively short day planned (65 miles) and the weather was forecast to steadily clear so we decided to have a leisurely morning and wait for it to warm up. Most of it was spent trying to upload pictures and publish yesterday's blogs through the tin-can-and-string internet connection at the Border Inn.

Other than the bad internet and so-so beds, the Border Inn turned out to meet all our needs. In particular the staff was friendly and the restaurant was not bad.

There was a friendly guest there who was very interested in our trip. He even copied the URLs for our blogs into his phone. He had family in the area and was there for an ash-spreading ceremony of a deceased relative. Peace, friend.

That snow was not there yesterday

We finally rolled out about 9:30, with the temperature having risen to about 45F. I stopped using my phone for navigation since there is basically no navigation to do (just go west on US-50). Instead, each day I have been drawing up a cue sheet for the day's ride based on the ACA map and elevation profile. Here is the one from today:

Note: not to scale. Slopes average only 3-5%

This is the pattern throughout Nevada: climb over a big range, then descend into a grand valley below. Nevada has over 100 of these ranges, all oriented north-south. One thing that's striking is how the scale of everything expands visually. What looks like one mile is actually five. What looks like 100 feet of elevation is actually 500. It's pretty cool to ride through since everything unfolds so slowly. When we were approaching Ely (pronounced "EE-lee") today we could see it from 16 miles away -- roughly an hour of riding time. Another interesting thing is how it's all sort of symmetrical. The ranges are about the same height (rising from 5000-5500 feet to around 9000-10000), are evenly spaced, and look somewhat similar. The result is a rhythmic riding profile: 10 miles up, 10 down, 12 up, 12 down, and so on.

Even the wind farms are symmetrical

The weather today was much more cooperative. Even though it stayed in the 40s for most of the day, it was mostly sunny. Between that and our improved moisture and layering techniques, we were able to manage the cold temperatures effectively. At the top of the first climb it was pretty chilly (low 40s and windy), so we bundled up and eased our way down. By the top of the second climb the day had warmed somewhat so we could finally -- for the first time in five descents -- go down at full speed without getting cold. Yay!

Pretty view, but windy and cold

Connors Pass was warmer. There was snow on the ground so I made a "cyclist sno-cone".

Ely is a good-sized town, complete with a sporting goods store that has bike stuff. We restocked our supply of inner tubes, and I bought a thermal base layer that will hopefully help for the next few cold mornings.

Today's totals: 65 miles, and 4500 feet of climbing. Other than being a little colder than ideal and having a pesky headwind all day, it was a pretty enjoyable ride.

The archway at this meat processing shop is made of antlers