Monday, June 9, 2008

Day 9, Battle Mt. to Elko


Today's ride was scheduled to be 72 miles. Like every other day since the start of the ride, it was a cool clear blue sky at the start. We turned left out the the motel and just keep on traveling.

We were heading into a gentle head wind at the start of the ride and pretty much stayed in a pace line until the first break stop at 26 miles. As you will be able to tell from the photos, the landscape is becoming more and more sparse.

After the break stop we started a long 12 mile climb to
Ennigrant Pass. I gotta pay more attention during the route discussions the evening before each ride, I didn't even know this climb was on the route.

The summit of the pass was over 6000 feet. We haven't been at this this altitude since Lake Tahoe.

The ride down was great, right into the next rest stop. Fred, Alen and myself stopped at a Subways for lunch. The destination of Elko was only 23 miles away.

We were able to catch a tailwind that helped us to speed the trip. I also got my first flat tire on this stretch. A tiny wire had pierced my rear tire. After Fred and I spent 5 minutes trying to pull the wire out of the tire, Fred used his teeth to do what our metal tools couldn't do.

Arriving in town we headed to the Dairy Queen, the first one on this trip, and then on to the motel.

Today's Stats:
  • 75.06 Miles
  • 2240 feet climbed
  • average speed 16.4 MPH
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