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Monday, June 12: Woke up several times last night to hear the pitter patter of rain outside, and when we got up at 6 AM there was a steady rain outside, amidst 40-degree temps. A look off into the mountains revealed snow cover. Man it was cold this morning, like super unusual for this area. 


Dave checked the forecast, which was foretelling of a cessation of the rain at about 10 AM. With all the rain/snow that fell last night I was really quite pessimistic about getting a ride in today. Dave was a bit more positive about the chances, and Jude, well, she was cracking the whip, hoping to get us out there to continue the march west. We decided to wait it out a bit and see what happened, but by like 9 AM, with both Dave and I doing business over the computer I thought for sure this would be a lost day due to weather. 


So around 10 AM, with checkout looming just an hour away I suggested we just reregister with the BW hotel and stay there for the day. Dave, then suggest that if we do that maybe we could wait out the weather, and hope that the rain would cease and the wind would dry our tracks out. He floated the idea of hitting just one of the two tracks we had scheduled for the day, the 32.5 miler, at about 3 PM. That motivated me big time to psych up enough to get out there and bag this long section to make something out of the day. Then we find out the BW is totally booked save for a 135/night room with three beds. No go there, so Dave booked a Super 8 on the computer and we were out of there. 


Now last night I did a MapMyRide download for the next two segments, which have a lot of tracks anastomosing all over the place. I wanted to make sure we stayed on the right track out in the middle of a high plains desert. I also made the tracks such that we’d run them backwards, west to east, this because the wind was forecast to be blowing at 20+ mph from a westerly direction, and so Judy would already know the pick-up point - she was there yesterday. Thus, we drove to a new start point west of Fallon out on Alt. Rt 95. 


On the drive out there, at about 11:30 AM the wind was just ferocious and the sky was looking kind of grim at times, and kind of ok at times. Then, on the final 10 miles or so south on Alt. 95 a light drizzle began falling. By the time we pulled into our parking area for the Pony Express Trail/Simpson Rd, the wind felt like gale force. Thanks goodness we had that wind at our backs. So we got ready with all our gear and were ready to roll. My biggest concern was the potential for a mudfest out there, where we’d run into this peanut butter mud that sticks to tires until they won’t even roll through the rear stays and the fork. 


We had Judy hang tight for 45 minutes just in case we ran into unrideable track and had to turn around. Got going on Simpson Rd/Pony Express Trail, and much to our surprise the track was pretty dry. And with that wind at our backs, we were just hammering. Several times we caught ourselves about to boast out loud about how fast we were going to crush the segment. I’d yell out loud, “No Dave, don’t even say it. Bad karma!” And then I’d catch myself about to marvel at how freaking amazingly fast we were cruising. Well, we played that game for 30 minutes or so as we blistered down the track. 


Things were going well, wind at our backs, good track, right on the mark with my GPS telling us were were on course, until my GPS started blinking “off course” when we made what seemed like the right turn. So we stopped. Dave thought we were on the right track, while I suggested we take the left turn, which my GPS was ok with for about 100 yards, then it blinked “off course”. I suggested we ride the left track for a bit. But the further we went, the more it just didn’t make sense. I mean we were trending to the north. That’s when we got out the paper map to double check the situation. Found out that we were riding parallel to these power lines we could see on the map, and that just wasn’t right, so we went back to that intersection again where I could recheck my GPS track that I downloaded. Be damed if the thing said once again that we were off course in either direction. 


Said the hell with it and went Dave’s gut feeling. And really, according to the map we should be riding perpendicular to the power lines. So we continued on the right track despite the GPS telling us we were off course. We both felt confident at that point the left track was wrong. Did a bit of climbing for a couple miles and then miraculously my GPS told us we were back on course??????????? Now I’m thinking that the problem is this: the software and mapping I’m downloading is a bit old, and the tracks, especially these backroads tracks, may have changed subtly over the years such that the track I downloaded have shifted a bit. I ran into that problem last year, where my GPS told me I was off course, and then when I kept going I was back on course within a mile or so. It’s pretty maddening, but that’s why I carry paper maps to. 


 Continued to do a gradual climb up this pretty sandy track for another mile or so. This was a bit of a grunt with the loose sand.

Topped out and did this amazing descent through a small basaltic canyon. I mean this thing just went on forever, winding its way west. And with that tailwind, it was pure ecstasy. Even on the thicker sections of sand, the descent was still sweet. Somewhere along the line of that descent the Pony Express Trail deviated off of our track, and by the looks of it the Pony Express Trail was pretty rough compared to the track I’d mapped. So I just buzzed on by with zero thought of jumping on that as Dave and I had talked about early in the ride. 


Now Dave had just smoked that descent. And believe you me, I was NOT slouching it on this one. I had it in about the second cog from the right and pushing hard. But shoot, after several miles Dave was out of sight. We regrouped at this abandoned little ranch area, then began another series of descending, down through step after step. Every once in a while we’d hit those sand sections where the back wheel would slide out to the side. After another regroup session we could see Fallon way off to the west down in the basin, and all the mountains surrounding us were covered in a dusting of snow from last nights storm. And we STILL had more descending! Again, step after step until I could see the race track where Jude was parked. From that point Dave went TT mode. Ended up back at the van with a 32.5 mile ride in about 3:40 hrs, and 25 min of that was BS time while we were trying to figure out the Y back when my GPS was playing goofy with us. 


Felt great to make something out of the day. And as I told Dave earlier, he was the catalyst to getting the ball rolling today. We beat feet back to our little Super 8, showered then went to this Chinese restaurant where Dave and I did the all-you-can-eat sushi - YES! Jude did a Happy Family dish where Dave and I just chowed like a couple of starving ranch hands who’d been out on the range a few days too long. We crushed 3 long rolls, 2 appetizers each, and about 6x 2 piece dishes. Having been through the med stuff I’ve been through, I opted out early so as not to gorge myself into a stupor. 

Dave did the same. 


Back here at the ranch watching Game 5 of the finals. Ain’t looking good with 5:33 left in the second. Okay, so tomorrow we’ll finish what looks to be a pretty easy 21 mile section that will put us about 30-40 miles south of Reno. Then we’ll drive to Reno, check a bike shop who is willing to help us with a gravel/dirt route from Dayton through Reno to Verdi. I’m hoping we can get to the CA border in two more day.