Monday, August 27, 2012

Cycling Nevada: The Pictures

415 miles.
40 hours and 15 minutes of riding time spread over 8 days.
Max elevation 7723.

Until I nail down a narrative (if I nail down a narrative), here is a smattering of photos.

I rode my bicycle across Nevada in the heat of August and it was great.

The night before leaving, the bike is packed and ready to roll.

Day 1: Neither my helmet or sunglasses are on straight, but I'm ready to roll. The goal is to leave from the front door and ride across the state of Nevada to the small town of Baker which lies at the foot to Great Basin National Park.

Night 1: Spent alongside Highway 50 at Dayton State Park ($12 for the night).

Day 2: Taking a bit of a rest on the porch of a closed up gun shop on the outskirts of Fallon.

Day 3: This poorly placed rumble strip pushed me out into the road.

Day 3: Approaching Middlegate my bike computer read 113F. It was hot. I was sweaty.

Day 3: While waiting for the heat to abate, we stopped at Middlegate to drink a few beers, eat a f-i-n-e burger, and play a few games of pool.

Day 3: From the Middlegate bottle collection.

Day 3: After leaving Middlegate, we opted to take 1000+ extra feet of climbing and rode down 722, which is the old Highway 50.

Day 4: Breakfast of Champions

Day 4: Still on 722, this was an abandoned building on the other side of Carroll Summit.

Day 4: Heading towards Austin, this shot faces the west side of the Toiyabe range.

Day 4: In Austin, stopped here for pizza ('twas okay).

Day 5: I'm grumpy about something but I can't remember what.

Day 5: Great Basin skies.

Day 5: One of the few roadside memorials we passed.

Day 5: Lonely, lonely sagebrush.

Day 6: Ken refixes a flat tire on Pancake Summit.

Night 6: Very close to the road, but a great place to sleep.

Day 7: Coffee break!

Day 7: Ken tries to find a puncture in one of his tubes.

Day 7: Wide open Nevada.

Night 7: Our last night out was spent on Connors Summit.

Day 8: Heading towards Baker.

Day 8: Arrival!

Day 8: So veeeerrrrry happy to be out of my bike shorts.

2 comments:

ani.ema said...

I just love the pictures - even the second time around they are incredibly impressive - they tell such a story! You and Ken did great!

Irene said...

Wow, this looks like a cool biking trip!
beautiful photos of the open roads.