Day 5: Food Challenge Day

After a great blueberry pancake breakfast made by Carol, I was soon off again riding towards Highway 50. As soon as I got there, two other riders come by. I ride with them, and we ride for the next 50 miles together. Jerry and Nathan are riding to North Carolina and were great conversationalists for the time we rode together. Jerry was from Ohio and Nathan was from Indiana. Jerry is also a Warmshowers host, so if I pass near Columbus I’ll likely have a place to stay!

The weather we had was fantastic. And while the tailwind wasn’t as strong as yesterday, we were still making pretty good time. So far, Nevada has been the best riding I have experienced!

As you can see in the photo above, Highway 50 has a shoulder, but it is entirely taken up by rumble strip, which makes it impossible to ride on. Luckily, traffic is so infrequent, and the roads so straight, that cars never come close as they have plenty of room to pass.

After a few small passes and 47 miles, we arrive at Middlegate, where we all planned to eat lunch. I had heard about their burgers being good and so had Jerry and Nathan. We had not heard about their challenge burger though.

Anyone who knows me knows my lunch choice was easy...

Nathan also decided to participate!

I finished in just over 30 minutes and then we cheered on Nathan until he finished about 45 minutes later. This left us the recipients of two free shirts! Not that I really want to carry it or have room for it… So I’ll have to send it back home once I reach a bigger city. For now, it’s strapped to the back of my bike.

Only a few miles after Middlegate, our little group split up. I was taking the alternate route, Highway 2 to Austin, and Jerry and Nathan were sticking to 50 and camping before Austin. We said some quick goodbyes and split. You can find Jerry and Nathan on crazyguyonabike.com under the name 2021acyclingodyssey. Good luck guys, and it was awesome riding with you!

The alternate route that I was on climbed back up and over 7,400 feet, and I still had 60 miles to go that day. However, I must be acclimating at this point, as the climb wasn’t too bad. It helped that only one car passed me the last 55 miles to Austin.

We had stopped for lunch at 12:30, but by the time we had left it was 2:30, and with so many miles still ahead, I dropped the hammer once I cleared the pass. I was easily averaging over 20 miles an hour for the next 40 miles through some beautiful basins.

It was beginning to get dark when I finally made it back to Highway 50, and at that point I just had one final climb to Austin. My Aunt Cindy splurged on a hotel for me for the night, and I’m thankful she did since it was getting dark and fairly cold pretty quick. Austin is above 6,000 feet elevation. I showered and got in bed in short order and ate some frozen food another hotel guest had left behind and the woman at the front desk gave me.

Now, it’s the next day and I can still feel that burger. I’m going to get a move on soon, though (written from the bathroom, burger was worth it though).