Saturday, June 10: Got to tell you about last eve. So we’re staying at this little oasis called Cold Springs. And honestly, the town is virtually this camping-RV park/cabins/motel with a restaurant/bar. I mean it’s all one gig. But man, it’s just awesome. The rooms are very affordable and nice inside. The restaurant/bar is like brand spanking new looking. And most of all, the food is GREAT, like Tony The Tiger great! Now I do have to say my Mediterranean diet thing was out the door at this place. We had some great burgers for lunch, then when we went back in for dinner and to watch the finals, well, we hit a homer again. Judy and I got the pork steak with mashed potatoes and baked beans while Dave go the Strip Steak. The server comes out with these monster pork steaks smothered in gravy and Dave’s steak is a monster about 2 inches thick. They were all fabulous, and the price….11 bucks for the pork steak dinner and 20 bucks for the strip steak. Felt like we’d gone back in time like 30 years! Yep, I traded in the Mediterranean diet for the Nevada diet.
Today’s ride was a toughie for me. I mean it was just a relentless series of rollers, power climbs, sand, desert, berminator, and rock gardens that made up the Pony Express Trail. Now first of all, the trail is NOT totally complete, in that there the trail would just kind of end in places and we’d have to negotiate whatever we could to stay on soft surfaces. It worked for sure as we stayed asphalt free - save for this crumpled up, gravely ancient road bed we rode on at times. That must have been Old Rt 50. I swear that pup was 50 years old and it reminded me of Old Akron-Peninsula Rd in the valley up by Pine lane - the condemned section.
Anyway, we got rolling out of Cold Springs around 9 sharp, hit the Pony Express Trail pronto, and had some super dbl track for several miles of downhill miles. That evaporated and then the trail was just dbl track along fence line for miles and miles and miles. Some of it was just barely discernible at times, where it felt more like riding through the desert along a fence. Other sections, though they were not bomber dirt and rock dbl track, were kind of like a dbl track trail across dried clay bedding. Several times the trail headed back right along Rt 50 to avoid these dry washes that were anywhere from 6-10 feet deep. Then the trail would go back to the fence line.
So we did that for about 12-15 miles until the trail kind of came to an end. But it did cross the highway to the south side and took off as a jeep track. Had to open a barbed wire gate to get in, and as we did we let a group of adventure motorcycle rides blast through. Too that track into this hideous little town called Middlegate, into open cattle range, and past a dead, rotting cow. Then we were back across the 50 and on the north side of the road up this dirt track and over 4600 ft West Gate Summit. This was the first of the punchy, power climbs where one of the pitches was just too steep for me to clean. Dave made it but I fumbled about 3/4 of the way up and had to walk the last 20 yards. Then it continued to climb for another half mile or so at a more moderate grade.
The whole time Judy was just killing it with her support. She’d wait at crossings every 5-10 miles apart for us. That way we didn’t have to wear our backpacks and carry the water bladders. I just carried a small fanny pack and Dave carried a few items in his jersey pockets. We’d top off the bottles, snag a Coke, and eat some salty chips, then buzz on again off to the next meeting point. So after the summit we had a good descent and then a great basin section across this alkali flats. The surface was rock hard and fast, even when riding against a pretty sweet headwind. And that wind was blowing against us all day long. Have to say though, at our speeds the wind was not nearly as dangerous as it could have been had we been riding on asphalt.
After that the trail went to the south side of the road for the climb up to Drumm Summit. Now I was able to clean the steep power climb on this pup - just barely. Pretty much after this things started to turn to hell, where the track was just a thick layer of beach sand. Had to gear down to nothing just to try to stay upright. We were just moving across the road trying to find a better track. Did manage to get on a decent track on the south side so we could climb Sand Spring Pass. Again, the power climb in this puppy gave me a no-no kiss, forcing me off the bike with about 10 yards to go. Dave snapped a nice little pic of me about to biff it at the crest. No biff, but no clean!
From here onward it was pure unadulterated shit! The sand was so think in places it was like cycling in quicksand. We were forever trying out different tracks on the descent from the pass. And the pisser was that the sand was so thick we could only do about 6-9 mph. Finally found this old gravely-asphalt road, we’re surmising it was Old Rt 50, that’s more a mix of sand and asphalt gravel than it is actual hard asphalt. Took that all the way down to 15-mile long Salt Wells Basin. That’s where we had a choice: ride the alkali flats or ride the gravel berm along 50, because the Pony Express Trail was nowhere to be found. We dropped down over this steep embankment of glass and garbage onto the flats only to find it was soft, kind of like riding on a soft mud flats. Did that for about a quarter mile and said &%^# it. We were on gravel berm for the next 6 miles to the end of the ride.
So the Pony Express Trail, according to the map, is supposed to cross right over 50, perpendicularly, and head off to the south. But Judy, nor Dave, nor I ever saw any track that crossed the road like the map indicated. Matter of fact Judy retconned that section like 3 times an never saw anything. And actually, I half expected that since this is more of a historic route than an actual trail. And honestly, I think Dave and I are the first people to ever mt bike that damned thing. So we got away with a great piece of riding, where this deviation of today and yesterday from my original plan, well, it saved us a day of riding. I feel lucky we got as far as we did on this thing today.
We finished about 20 miles outside of Fallon, NV, on Rt 50. Ended up with 42 miles for the day. After loading the bikes in the van, and as we drove west into Fallon to find a motel and dinner, we saw a host of tracks off to the north and south sides of the road. So I think we’ll be ok, and we’re working on a plan right now to take us south of Fallon, and west towards Carson City. Dave is also working on a bypass of Reno. So between the two of us we’ll come up with a plan for the next couple of days.
Did dinner at a Mexican place in Fallon, where the burritos were as big as a man’s ankle. Bedded down at a Best Western right now, Dave working on some mapping, Judy watching the movie Reds, and me doing the blog, working, and working on a the track to get us west past Fallon and towards Silver Springs. Tomorrow ought to be interesting….