Day 8 -- Winnemucca, NV to Battle Mountain, NV

Miles: 54.81
Total Miles: 556.20
Time: 3:20
Average Speed: 18.0 mph (about time)
Max Speed: 37.5 mph
Flats Today: 0
Total Flats: 0
Elevation Gain: 1393 ft
Weather: 10 mph tail winds around 75 degrees

Today was finally a break from the headwinds, thank God. After 166 miles of 20 mph head winds the last 2 days and doing all that enduring stuff, we got a nice 55 miles with tail winds today. It's a good thing because my body said "Screw that enduring thing, I am sore and tired." In fact, we took an ice bath last night because our muscles were so sore. Wade thought it was funny that I was complaining when I was getting in. Wade said "Now you know the pain you put the soccer team through." I always thought they were just wimps, but Dan and Adam, you still are. We loaded luggage at 6:15, ate breakfast at 6:30, then got on the road at 7:15. We rode 3 miles from one side of Winnemucca to the other, then got on I-80. This time we had a tail wind, so it was smooth riding. We actually could enjoy the great views around us because we weren't struggling. There's only so much you can see in the high desert though. We would ride in flat lands between mountains for about 10 miles, then the highway would curve between 2 mountains and we would ride another 10 miles on plains until we got the next set of mountains. The mountains did have some pretty cool formations, but after 2 straight days of 20 mph head winds, anything seemed nice.

After about 20 miles of riding the plains between mountains, we got to climb one. It was 5 miles at 5 percent grade, so it wasn't a Sierra Nevada mountain, but it was tough. Once we got to the top, the only sag stop of the day was waiting there for us. We ate some food, and we started heading downhill. It was a nice steady 5 miles down hill, and about 4 miles into it was a very cool view. We turned a corner and we could see the straight-away of the highway go on for miles. It was definitely something you don't see in Ohio. Speaking of stuff that you don't see in Ohio, there are a ton of cattle-grates around here, but no cattle.

We rode the rest of the day along I-80, and the scenery didn't change. It was kind of interesting to look at because we don't see this kind of terrain in Ohio, but sometimes you really feel like you're in the middle of nowhere and getting nowhere. We saw a power plant out in the distance, and after 5 miles we thought we had past it, so we looked back and to the side, but we couldn't see anything... It was still far in front of us. After a while, we did pass it, but distances out here are very deceiving. I think the desert is getting to Wade. Typically it's 100 degrees when they ride through here, so Wade wanted to know what it was like.

We rode with Fran again today. He's a retired professer from the University of North Carolina who taught grad students Environmental Engineering (water and wastewater treatment). He is a Catholic and a liberal. As Fran says, what do you expect from a major university professor, a conservative? We seem to get into political discussions a lot, but I don't know why. He went to Wal-Mart for the very first time with us, he refuses to patronize this non-union small business destroyer. He's very fun to talk with, and he rides at our pace. He's 68 years old, so either we ride like old men, or he's a machine... Obviously he's a machine. One of the riders got in a crash 2 days ago with another rider, and he just found out from the doctor that he has a broken rib and a punctured lung. He'll continue to ride, but he has to use a breathing apparatus, and if he's not breathing enough, then he has to stop. The scary part is that the crash happened right behind Wade... that would have been bad if Wade would have went down. The guy that he ran into is from New Zealand, but he's fine. Anyway, today was a great day to refresh and hopefully recover our muscles from the past to days. We really needed a nice tail wind and short day like today.