Day 6 - Middlegate, NV to Petrolgyph State Recreation Area, NV

90 miles / Day 6 of 54 / Middlegate, NV to Petrolgyph State Recreation Area, NV

Today was another big day. After our first century ride yesterday, we continued some great mileage.

We've been blessed by fantastic weather and a nice little tail wind pushing us through the Nevada desert.

We pounded out some mileage in the morning and caught up with our friends, the grandfather and grandson from the night before. What an awesome thing, a grandfather being able to experience such an awesome opportunity with his grandson.

We had two small climbs and planned to stop in Austin for lunch, population 130. The Nevada mountains have been hard and high, but the grade hasn't been too terrible. Pretty much cruise at 5-7 miles per hour for a few miles and we could get to the top. Well, our climb into town completely kicked our butt and made us exhuasted. We were psyched, having already completed 64 miles for the day and it was only 2:30!

We met a  grandpa and his grandson who were going coast to coast on their bikes at the top of our second summit.

After grabbing some grub, Seth and I decided to tackle to rest of the climb, up to about 7500 feet and camp about 5 miles from town, having completed the ascent so we wouldn't have to do it in the morning first thing. Again, the grade was hard, but we made it up and completed about 70 miles. It was only 5:30, so we made a game-time decision. After looking at the map it was decided we'd try to push our mileage while we were still feeling okay. Also, a large portion of our next stretch was downhill.

Talk about exciting, going 40+ miles an hour down some of these descents is truly incredible. Really makes you feel alive. We cruised the last 19 miles into camp for an even 90 for the day and 190 over the last two. Not too shabby! We're about halfway through Nevada and cruising.

We hope that the more miles we can bang out now, the quicker we can get to a bike shop and get Seth's spoke fixed (see yesterday's post). Here's to two great days!

Lesson # 19: Sometimes, it's good to push yourself because you never know where it can take you.

Because we took those extra 19 miles at the end of the day, we're camping in a beautiful petroglyph rock area with sweeping views of the Sierras. Life is good.