Today is the first day that I didn’t think about quitting. Seriously! Every day, for the last five days, I came up with excuses and planned my exit. But not today. The weather is clear, I’m getting used to the pain, and I can see the temperature getting warmer soon. It’s a good day! 🙂
Now, don’t go thinking that today was some piece of cake. It was NOT! The ride over Geiger Pass was a monster that took over a couple of hours to complete. The temperatures were below freezing, and only a couple of degrees above for the first half of the day. My phone doesn’t have bicycle directions on it, which lead to an extra 15 miles of riding today. And finally, in my quest to try to take a couple of pictures, I failed to removed my cleat and fell over on the side of the road…
For all you Microsoft people out there, take notice. This is your chance to attract all the bicycle enthusiasts with cool bike mapping software. For all you Apple minions, the lack of this feature is a HUGE downer for me right now. This sure does sound like the appropriate time for the BING or Windows Mobile team to give me a ring and offer a demo of their stuff! Or maybe not…
Yes, you read the above correct. I fell over on the side of the road! Karma can be a real downer sometimes. When I was walking this summer, I should never have laughed and wrote about the biker I saw falling over. It was funny then, but not today. It HURTS! I sent a picture of my gory bruise to my Facebook page, if you really want to see it. 🙂
If it has been only about 10 degrees warmer today, I would venture to say that it was an almost perfect riding down. Blue Sky, decent shoulders on the road, and mostly polite drivers. Probably my best day yet (even with the bloody knee).
After the huge (Geiger) mountain pass, I briefly rode through historic Virginia City, Nevada. Awesome, yet disappointing! I love the Wild-West and all the rich history of how the West was won! I don’t however like to see the towns turn into such a tourist trap. The 5-block long town was pretty much the same souvenir stores and saloons. If I wasn’t on a bike and clicking in my cleats, I may have stopped. Not this time, I will drive through in the future. I am curious to see the advertised ‘Suicide Chair’. If any of you know the history behind the chair, please feel free to reply with a comment.
For those of you wondering if I had any fun during my stay in Reno, the answer is “NO”. The most excitement was the mattress spring poking through my mattress and scratching my back. It was a good thing that I had a room with two twin beds. As long as I sleep angled across the bed, with my head pressed against the head-board, my feet will only hand off the edge a tad.
Today’s stop is in the small little town of Yerington, NV. It is surrounding by lots of large farm/ranches with a noticeably large amount of workers in the fields. Moving lots of pipe, not sure of what else. If you have driven through Nevada before, the area is also full of large brown mountains with the snow-capped Sierra-Nevada mountain range to the West. Since we are in Nevada, the town is full of Casinos.
In addition to writing a little blog, my plan tonight is to catch-up on laundry and attain the horizontal, at-rest position.
If you have any questions or would like me to write about anything specific, please feel free to drop me a line at jackmo@mylongwalkhome.org.
Jackmo
This Ride Made Possible by:
