Friday, June 9: Up early, worked for a bit, then joined Judy and Dave at the little cafe for brekkie. I just couldn't stomach another bowl of that granola. I compared it to cattle feed, but as I’ve seen a great deal of antelope droppings as of late, well, it’s more like that. So after brekkie we loaded up and headed off to Railroad pass on Rt 722 for our start on Old Overland Rd. The temps have really gone down over the past couple days. So this morning was just a tad cool, perfect for Dave and I because the first 13 miles were down in a desert basin. Got rolling, with both of us wearing our backpacks complete with food, water bladder, tools, and cool weather gear. 

We pedaled down into the basin where the road kind of skirted this alkali lake that appears as a mirage when seen from a distance. I mean it looked like a big lake from our start point up above the basin. But once we got down there it was nothing but this massive alkali flats. Off in the distance on the north side the mirage continued to fool us into thinking that the far edge was water. Nope!  So we skirted around the flats and came to a cross roads. Now my NV gazetteer says we’re riding on Old Overland Rd, but my Garmin 810 with a NV/CA Topo 24K indicated that we were just “riding on road.” No confirmation as to which way to go to stay on Old Overland. Okay, I’m totally used to this one. So I used the directional  compass on the Garmin to kind of break the ice on this one. On the map Old Overland trends west. The other route trended north. Easy one here - we go west on “The Road”.

Continued to ride west towards the mts. About 10 miles in we came to a sign that had two directionals: one pointed due north on this dbl track, indicating that it would junction with Rt 50 in 14 miles, and the other pointed west to Smith Ranch. The gazetteer said that Smith Ranch is dead on Old Overland, so west we rode, pretty confident we were on track. So then we hit this gate 2 miles from the ranch, and a sign on the gate said No Outlet. Again, we HAD to be on the right road according to the gazetteer. So on we rode. After that two miles we see a sign that read, No Trespassing. 

Got the map out yet again, and I saw that the road was gated. Figured that’s what the No Outlet sign meant, but the No Trespassing, that was different. This was undoubtedly the right road, and the only game in town for us going west. Nothing else existed, so we decided to ride to the ranch and ask permission to ride the road through their property. Went to two housed to knock, but no answer at either. Seemed everyone was out on the ranch working. So we pressed on, hoping we could explain our way out of this if we were confronted. 

Now the road was double track and it wound up by this beautiful lake and then down along a stream. The scenery was just awesome in this valley. Rode through a section of track where the stream had totally flooded over. No biggie there. Climbed up and up and up for a bit then came to a locked gate. Went around and we were back on the track with no issues. So by this time my Garmin indicated we were on indeed on Old Overland. The next five to six miles of climbing were on some unconsolidated dbl track with grades of 6-15%. This was really more like jeep track than actual roadway. Did numerous stream crossings with one that had a deep bottom where I just had a slight scare when the front wheel dropped down a half foot or so. 

The valley we were climbing had to be the most beautiful valley I’ve yet encountered in my ride across NV. It was just stunning. Made me REALLY happy we changed the route yesterday to this, because schlepping through the desert for a day on my old track would have been boring and hot. Topped out at 7400 feet at the pass. Dave was up there hanging out at this horse or cattle pen. Just about the same time I arrived up there some ranchers were coming back down a road that went higher. I signaled them, hoping to ask them about Old Overland Rd. The older guy responded that we just go over the saddle to our right and we’d have a long, long descent down towards Cold Springs. 

So we chatted for a bit, with the rancher telling us the ranch consisted of 234,000 acres of land. I confessed that we rode through their property after having tried to get permission and the guy was totally cool with that. He did tell us that the cafe in Cold Springs had great burgers. That sure as hell got Dave and my attention. 

Got er going after about a 20 min food stop up on the pass, and the descent was down some really unconsolidated and rocky track. I later joked with Dave that he was gone in a cloud of smoke, actually dust, while I was back there methodically riding through the loose track somewhat cautiously. No check that, REALLY cautiously. You just had to let it flow on some of that stuff, on just tons of loose rocks and gravel. We’d hit really rocky sections, then ride onto pretty smooth sections. It just ebbed and flowed for miles and miles. 

Towards the end the track just turned into a mud pit, where it looked impossible for even 4WD vehicles could get through. Had to do a slight detour around that for fear of getting going shins deep in deep mud doing the bike hike thing. Temps got warmer and warmer as we lost over 2K in elevation until we could finally see Rt 50 below us. Descended on an unnamed track that went further to the west than Old Overland. Then came the big question: Would we find the Pony Express Trail as a trail…or as a big fat nothing burger?

Much to our surprise we found this dbl track right along some fence line. And every quarter mile or so there would be red topped gas line markers. Hey, Pony Express Trail or gas line access trail, we were on it. Now this thing was definitely rideable and not too awful bad except for some deep loamy sections in the lowlands. 

It just went on and on as this dbl track that paralleled Rt 50 west. After about 4 miles of riding we saw Judy out on 50 looking for us. Found out that we were indeed on the Pony Express Trail and that Cold Springs was just a mile away. Pulled into this little oasis that contained a motel, cabins, an RV park and this very nice looking pub/restaurant. We were home for the day. This place is totally impressive for where it’s at - which is in the middle of nowhere! Found out the Pony Express Trail continues along Rt 50 past the city of Fallon, some 60 miles away. So we’re going to take this pup tomorrow and see how it goes. Sure beats riding in basins for 2 days. 

Did some lunch in the restaurant, great burgers and some very tasty amber bock beer. We’ll head back there to watch Game 4 and have dinner this eve. All in all we had a really wonderful ride today, amazing scenery and some fun climbing. Got in 35 miles of riding in about 4:30 hours of total time. Have to say that my legs are a bit tired today, but nothing that’s any problem. Also have the skin at my sit bones just blistered, that probably from doing so much spinning in the little ring up three days worth of climbing. I’ve just been used to pushing that fixie gear with nothing easy. So all my weight is down on the saddle in those little gears. Had to stand up at times just to take the pressure off my butt. I’ll grease it up tonight and apply chamois butter for tomorrow.