Hello again! It’s Hunter. On Day 11, through 71 miles and up 4100 feet of elevation gain, the Nevadan desert baked so many eye-opening experiences into us. We had a wonderful chat with Patsy, one of the waitresses who staffs Middlegate Station’s restaurant in the morning, about her prior biking travels, the shoe tree nearby, and precautions we should take on our route to Austin. With her advice in mind, we filled our water bottles at the station’s well and set off.
The team, setting off from Middlegate
Once we said goodbye to this wonderful town, the realities of the road set in. The sparing humidity present within the western reaches of the Great Basin faded into long, dry, and straight stretches of asphalt. Everything’s spread so far and wide—near the start and end of the day’s ride, there were two different signs directed towards the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, both times exactly 56 miles away. (Did we just go in a circle?) It was also incredibly difficult at times to tell whether we were going up, down, or neither.
Long, dry, and straight. Challenge: Is this an uphill, downhill, or neither?
Yet contrary to the road’s reputation as the Loneliest Road in America, the ride was rarely lonely or boring. We were almost constantly accompanied by swarms of Mormon crickets and became adept at dodging (most of) the crickets. The uphills were gentler than the Sierras but far longer, testing our endurance, while the downhills were at that sweet spot where we didn’t have to pedal or brake much. We were also stopped on the side of the road for thirty minutes due to a massive mining vehicle taking up both lanes of the highway. The vehicle was unfortunately not some secret Area 51 machine, but its size was impressive nonetheless.
Where did it come from, and where is it going?
To round things off, I am constantly amazed by the kindness of people. As I was desperately pedaling up a 7% incline to reach the first bathroom in Austin (for those seeking ways to increase cycling speed, take note), a man cheered me on from the gas station. Many drivers waved, and nearly every honk we received was positive.
With that, I leave you with a picture of the sunset from our forested campground.
And there goes another day