Day 10 -- Elko, NV to Wendover, NV

Miles: 107.24

Total Miles: 736.94

Time: 6:34

Average Speed: 16.4 mph

Max Speed: 37.8 mph

Flats Today: 1

Total Flats: 1

Elevation Gain: 3665 ft

Weather: Tail winds early, head winds after, around 80 degrees

Once again... lucky with temperature, but unlucky with the wind. We started out the century ride, which is a ride that is 100+ miles, at 7:15. We were one of the first ones out of breakfast today because I wanted to make sure we got an early start for such a long day. We rode out with Fran and Lester, and we were smoking. We probably averaged 18 mph for the first 35 miles. It was nice riding with a tailwind for awhile. We started approaching some snow capped mountains for the first time since the Sierra Nevadas. After we made our way around some of them, we found out that they are called the Ruby Mountains... Or as one of our guides says, "Those are the bumps before the Rockies." What an encouraging thought. Anyway, we made our way around those mountains, then at about 38 miles in, something that I wouldn't have expected happened... I broke a spoke. That's not just a quick fix and get back on the road type of thing. We called the sag van and they told us that since we were only 2 miles from the first stop, we should start walking and they'll try to get the mechanic, Gerrard, to come. So, we did exactly that: We walked for about 100 ft then I decided Wade should be carrying my bike while I rolled his... It only makes sense. I got him to carry my bike, then after about a half of a mile, the sag van came up to us. Gerrard was driving, and he got out, switched my wheel out with a spare one, and got me back on the road. It seemed relatively quick, but I think every single rider passed us after my spoke broke. After that, we just rode the last mile and a half to the sag stop and took our break.

We didn't stay long since we got behind because of my broken spoke. We headed out and believe it or not, we ran into our favorite thing... head winds. For a second I forgot how much I hated them, but then I quickly remembered. About 20 miles out from the sag, something else happened. Wade got a flat. It was our first one of the ride. We changed it fairly quickly, and found out that one of those wires from truck tires got caught in his tire. I of course had Wade do the pumping with the little hand pump. He doesn't care because he says, "It just means I'm stronger than you Dad," which I can't deny because he is stronger than me.

We headed out from there and about 5 miles after the flat, we saw what we thought to be a hilarious sign. It said, "Prison Area, Hitchhikers Prohibited." Look at that shady character under the sign when we rode by. We had to take a picture of it. Just after that, we had a hill to climb. We made it up slowly and steadily, and it was definitely nice to see the sag stop at the top. Once we left the sag stop, we got nailed by more head winds. Then, Fran, the liberal UNC Professor that we ride with, had to stop because he had problems with his derailer. As if anything else could go wrong. It's funny because it happened just like in a movie. Wade says, "What else could possibly go wrong." Not even a couple minutes later... It starts to rain. What luck. And to make it worse... It turned to hail. It felt like needles pounding into our skin. We had a 3 in 1 deal for awhile. Uphill, head winds, and hail. It didn't take us too long to get out of the storm, but once we got out, the winds increased.

After some major struggles against the vicious wind, we finally made it over a hill where we could look down on Wendover. All that we had left was a nice downhill. The view was spectacular as well. Just past the city was the renowned salt flats. It was white and a couple other pale colors covering as far as we could see. It was beautiful. Our hotel is the Rainbow Casino and Hotel, so we had quite an experience tonight. We had a great buffet in the Casino and this time the Casino was a big one. It was the first time Wade was in this big of a Casino. It had all the slots, sports betting, black jack and poker. We decided to put $1 in a slot machine, and we won $5. I asked Wade if we should keep going but he said cash out, so we did. We were big winners today. 107 miles done today, only 122 to Salt Lake City tomorrow. This will be our first ever back to back century rides... If we make it.