But first, I felt a little bad about the Denny's converstaion and to balance things out I also have to report that at the table next to me I also overheard a son concisely explaining to his father the mRNA process used to create the vaccine and why it was able to be done so quickly. These people were also locals. The food at Denny's was still horrible.
After I got my small room in the Nevada Hotel with no fridge, I did the usual post ride laundry and shower and put on the hockey game. The best thing about the Nevada Hotel is tht my friend Bob had been in Ely on business and had also stayed here. Forest arrived in town and got a room across the steet. After a bit of rest we met up to walk around town. I stayed in the old part of town because I like to be able to walk around but Ely's old part of town is dead and I should have stayed in the newer part. The aging Ramada Inn looked like a better choice as I rode by in the morning. There was a nice park in town and big trees were a welcome sight. We went to our respective rooms to rest and watch hockey, but met for dinner at an Italian place that was ok.
It was an early night and after a little more hockey I went to bed. I wanted to leave a little later so I set the alarm for 4:30 instead of the 3:30 I had been setting. After the alarm went off I noticed my watch was saying it was not yet 4. My stupid phone had picked up Mountain Time!
On the way out of town I stopped at the 24 hour gas station and got some chicken strips for lunch. Noticing my tires were getting a little low I thought I would pump them up with my little tiny pump. Bad idea. I took more air out than I put in. The tire got to the point where I could no longer ride on it. Starting to get a little desperate I notice a guy getting gas watching me and he had a bike in the back of the pickup. I asked if he had a pump and he did ... a good one. He was a local mountain biker. Saved again by a stranger.
When I got out of town the road was long and straight with mountians on either side. Totally exposed to the wind. The head winds had started as I was approaching Ely last night and what should have been a fast roll into town was a bit of work. This morning it was straight into the wind and I had uphill speeds on flat areas and crawled on any grades. The wind made me deaf. This was no fun and I resisted looking at the milage for as long as I could ... 15km ... better than I though and I deserved a little break. I picked a point a head where the road took a bend. I figured, based on my extensive distance experiance gained yesterday that it would be a kilometer or 2 at the most. It was 12!
When I finally got to the bend very shortly I got some protection from the wind and I was going faster on the grade than I had been on the flat. The section from Ely to the first climb was the worst riding so far. The road surface was poor, the shoulder was wasted with a wide rumble strip, there was a lot of traffic ... by a lot I mean one car every 2 minutes. Cars could see me for 10km and yet some idiot decides the right time to pass is when going past a cyclists - we were 2 cars and me between the white lines. Technically, I was on the white line.
After the pass there was a long 15km downhill. I passed Forest as the valley opened up but it was still going down at a pretty good grade. In this valley the wind was behind us with come cross winds ... I was going at a pretty good clip. In the middle of the valley highway patrol were escorting a wide load ... it was wider than the road and shoulder and I was standing well off in the dirt as it passed by. I stopped for my chicken strip lunch and as I finished Forest caught up. We chatted for a few minutes and I pushed on.
I should have eaten my chicken strips a little earlier at the last pass because I didn't have much energy for the next one.
After the pass it was all downhill to Baker. There was a great view of Great Basin Nation Park. It would have been better without all the wind and the road surface continued to be poor but I got to "town" quickly. Town is a small collection of buildings. The motel was closed for another 2 hours so I went to the cafe for coffee and lunch. Talked to some RV people while killing time. They were a retired cop couple ... much younger than me but they had put in 30 years and that gets them full retirement.
When 2pm came around I found Forest at the motel and they had no vacancies. The other motel/campground had none either. Forest took a camping spot and I rode 10km to the Border Inn. Baker is booked for the next while ... if you plan to stay there arrange ahead of time. There is at least a store here and other than the Baker detour adds no mileage.
The wind here is terrible. I fear tomorrow will be grind.
