Sunday, May 25, 2008

Carson City to Fallon

Today was a longer ride, 65 miles, but the terrain wasn't bad, a few hills but over all a net loss in elevation. We had a little rain early but the cool temps were very conducive to bicycling and the sky seemed to be clearing towards the end of the day. Hwy. 50 out of Carson City is not the loneliest road. There are new developments (and traffic) for many miles. It wasn't until the intersection with Alt. 50 to Fernley that we began to get an idea what the true Hwy. 50 will be like. Err..well.. lonely. In Fallon, we met a young man from S.F. who is riding to a teaching job in Ohio. We were happy to have dinner with him and afterwards we were able to do a service in kind for all the help we've received along the way. John had a broken spoke and Dave had the tools to fix it. John is a very nice young man and we will meet him again in the morning for breakfast. We don't expect to see him after that as he has a deadline and is traveling quite a bit faster than we are.

4 comments:

Michael Podolny said...

Dave and Belinda - I'm curious - this riding across the country is evidently not that uncommon. How many do you estimate do it each summer? Also, is it usually done from West to East? Or do people do it in both directions?

Anonymous said...

You're such an inspiration that I persuaded Steve to resurrect our bikes (both touring and mountain)as I want to take them along when we head to Truckee this Friday for a week's vacation. I'm sure that seems tame to you two but we need to ease back into biking! So..ride on and keep the blogs coming.

mas said...

It seems like you've left the more scenic stretches for awhile. What is the next big waypoint? In fact, how far are you guys going? Hopefully, you're picking up the prevailing tailwinds. Good luck in Nevada!

Dave and Belinda said...

Michael, I think I read that Adventure Cycling estimates that about 6000 cyclists cross the country every year. People ride in both directions. If you are curious adventurecycling.org is a great resource.

Diana, that's great. Bicycling doesn't have to be fast or long to be fun. There's a lot to be said for just tooling around the neighborhood.

Mark, well.. there's lots of beauty in Nevada away from HWY 80. The sky is often very dramatic and the mountains.. Today we go to Austin, our eventual goal is Amherst, Mass. We have a long way to go.