06.08 - lake mono

early morning rise, we left the campground and headed for coffee/breakfast.  we found it on the second try at the mono cup.

after breakfast, the first order of business:  a 1,000+ foot climb.  straight grade up, switchback in a swooping curve and then a final 90 and up to deadman's pass in the sierra's.


downhill was wild, as would prove others to come. road narrowing to 2 lanes, limited shoulders, rumble strips.  when there's 18 inches between the rumble strip and the edge of the shoulder going up hill is fine, but going down is dangerous.  hittting a rumble strip can shake the hell out you and potentially cause a crash.  there's nothing to do but get out in the lane.  the eighteen wheelers going down a 6% grade at 50 mph on a two-lane don't appreciate a bike in front of them.
making it down, we came into beautiful bridgeport.  lunch at the historic hotel.

ever since the bird sanctuary in henderson, nv, i've been trying to spy a yellow headed blackbird.  chris had told me i'd have other chances, but there weren't many reeds and wetlands to look at.  in henderson, i'd apparently missed my prime opportunity.  i vowed to make up for it.  well, my vigilance finally paid off as i spied a small flock sitting on fence posts in the valley.  yellow heads on one side of the road, red wings on the other.

after bridgeport, another climb and one more damn pass after another.  mountain springs pass @ 5,490,; then conway pass @ 8,138, and, finally, devil's gate summit (7,519).  i think we were getting the hang of it now, but the downhills were crazy.  after devil's gate, it was down hill to topaz lake.  we dropped a good 2,500 feet, running along parallel to west walker river.  shades of the little river. including whitewater.
as soon as we cleared the canyon, we stopped in the small hamlet of walker for a milkshake.  there was a young touring cyclist there who was a bit disspirited, having gone over several summits and riding into the wind.  and then there were two other riders who had just returned from trying to ride up the canyon.  scared they might get injured between the bad shoulder, the gusting head winds and truck drivers, they turned around.

we sympathized, then jumped back on our bikes for the final 15 miles to lake topaz, happy to have the wind on our side for a change.  temperature was dropping as the shadows grew longer with predictions of 32 degrees.  we had a hotel room for the night, overlooking the lake and within a short walk of the casino (which had a restaurant and bar).







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

06.09 - climbing to tahoe

Image
we left lake topaz by 8:00 focused on its being maurice's last day, culminating with the 2,300 foot climb to lake tahoe.  it caught us a little by surptise that we had a long climb out of the basin.  one more mountain pass, but more like big hills. in the distance the the sierra. maurice had recovered really well by now.  we were both a little sore from the climbing the last few days, but had faith that would work itself out as we rode. we rode 15 miles through nevada countryside.  more sage.  i've seen an awful lot of sage brush these last three weeks, varying density and size as the only change, but now there were mixes of junipers and small (pinyon?) pines.  obviously there was water in this area.  we passed a sign indicating we were entering the carson river watershed.  small farms started appearing scattered in the valley.   there were small sections hinting at the fires that have plagued the west...
Read more

06.13 - across and up out of the sacremento valley

Image
word has it the valley is going to heat up this week.  i need to get up into lake county and the coastal ranges before that happens.  i'll be on the right side of timing for a change.  except for the wind, i'll still have a headwind no matter what.   in the sutter community park, in the middle of the night, i felt a wash of water drops.  it stopped, i rolled over.  sometime later i was awoken again by another wash.  the third time, i woke up enough to realize it was lawn sprinklers.  by the fourth time i was up and moving all my stuff.  i relocated over to a pavilion, got out my air matress and dry down blanket (thank you again, linda), hung everything up to dry and went back to sleep.   i was up early, things were still wet, but packed them up to dry out later.  so, first past the remnants of the volcano (i think).  they refer to it as a messa and a butte.  the road was called butte pass, but it was barely a bli...
Read more

05.26

Image
i don't do sitting well. woke up this morning, packed, and noticed one tire was flat, the other low.  pumped them up and the seem to be holding air.  i started out the door and noticed the front wheel was loose.  upon further inspection, i found a sheared half a nut in the room, apparently from the axle.  fortunately, there is a bike shop a few blocks down, small, but they have a good rating.  the don't open till 10. i walked across town to have breakfast at mr. d's., then walked back. kingman is an interesting town. the town itself is shaped by all the rock formations around it, the interstate, which feels almost like a separate town, and the desert to the north and east.  andy devine ave, a.k.a. rte 66, is the main drag.  there's a parallel road one block over which is the main commercial downtown.  it's really wide, 4 lanes, with very little traffic. half the buildings are vacant, but there's an obvious attempt to build ...
Read more