Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Mountains and Desert

Day 4, July 4, Jackson to somewhere on the mountain, 33 miles, 5500 feet ascent.

Astrid dropped me off at the "tire" tree at about 10:00 AM. I rode the 6 miles to Jackson and then had a gourmet lunch 8 miles further up the road with Astrid.
I asked to fill up my water bottles in a bar. The waitress refused to take my tip of a Dollar until she made sure I had enough to eat. The first of many kind people.
I found a nice tiny meadow where I spent my first night alone in the forest.

Dietmar's Index:

Time it takes in minutes to use up the calories of a freeze dried dinner (for two) going uphill on a bicycle?
40

Day 5, July 5, Meadow to Carson Pass, 37 miles, 6100 feet ascent.

Towards the end above 8000 feet and after climbing 11600 feet in 2 days, I was tired. Very.
I rode down the other side far enough to where the night would not be so cold to about 7300 feet.
It still was. On the way up, I stopped at Silver Lake and swam in it's cool waters, awesome.
A woman on the beach offered me some of the family's watermelon. Camped in the forest with 1.875 million mosquitoes.

Lesson learned:
People love water.
Insects share that love.

Day 6, July 6, Meadow to Carson City, 40 miles, 400 feet ascent.

I stopped riding at noon, when I met Astrid. Rested in the comfort of a hotel that night. Did I say I love beds? I really do.

Day 7, July 7, Carson City to ditch, 44 miles, 1200 feet ascent.

I left at noon after, yes you guessed it, lunch with Astrid. I stopped when I found a ditch with a few shrubs to shield me. Camping in the desert is quite different from the forest. At least there were no mosquitoes.

Day 8, July 8, Ditch to Fallon, 21 miles, 500 feet ascent.

During much of the rides on this journey, I had a pain in my left shoulder, Something that happened on many longer bicycle rides before. I thought it was a muscle I only use riding (looking up all the time) and that it would get better, once used more. It got worse. I decided to get help before I ride into the main desert with no big towns for many hundreds of miles.
Astrid helped me find a Chiropractor in town, I arrived at 10:00 AM.
Dr, Laura Harmon treated me, refused payment, placed me on a spare bed and told me to rest my shoulder for the afternoon. This not being enough kindness, offered me a room in her house for the night, ....before telling her husband, and made me a delicious dinner. As you readers may guess, this was of course insufficient hospitality, so she bought me a bag of supplies for the road, and lunch to go.
There are a lot of beautiful people in this world. I just met another one.
I am humbled by her (their) love.
It is 10:00 AM and I am heading into the desert. I keep you posted.



Total distance so far: 320 miles
Total ascent so far: 19,800 feet

1 comment:

  1. Hi Dietmar! (This is Darin.) Your day-by-day schedule makes me smile because it includes "meadow" and "ditch" as destinations, and you know how I feel about that.

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