Day 9 -- Battle Mountain, NV to Elko, NV

Miles: 73.50
Total Miles: 629.70
Time: 4:02
Average Speed: 14.9 mph
Max Speed: 37.3 mph
Flats Today: 0
Total Flats: 0
Elevation Gain: 2335 ft
Weather: Low amount of wind around 80 degrees

Today was another nice day of riding. I guess after 2 days in a row of headwinds, anything besides more headwinds is a nice day. Last night, we found out that Battle Mountain had the largest gold mine in America, so I guess the middle of nowhere does have important stuff. Anyway, we started out the ride around 7:30 and for the first 20 miles we were on a road that followed right next to I-80. It was nice to get off of the Interstate for awhile, but we missed it when the road started getting rough. The terrain around us was still a desert with mountains surrounding it, but it just kept on getting better. After those 20 miles, we crossed under I-80 so that we could get onto the eastbound side. The bridge that we crossed under had about 300 birds nests, and right as we saw the nest, about 300 birds came flying out. They fluttered all around in circles, then eventually made their way back into their nests. One of the riders with us told us that they were swallows. Without hesitation, Wade goes, "Have you ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail." I told him no, but Wade was still pumped because he had never seen a swallow before. He immediately had to text his friends and they had a hoot about it. He tried to explain it to me: something to do about swallows carrying coconuts, but it sounds like one of those stupid movies to me. After that experience, we rode 6 more miles into our first sag stop. At the sag stop, they had some signs about the pioneers and their wagon travels. We took a picture of one of the sign because it had a typo... let's see if you can spot it. For the record, I saw it before Wade.

Right before we arrived at the stop, we began to climb. After the stop, the climb continued, but it was a nice steady climb, so it was bearable. The climb lasted 9 miles, then we got a nice downhill for the next 7 or so miles. Larry, a 74 year young man on the trip, who's actually from Alliance, Ohio, was the first one up the hill today. He said, "I learned how to do that on GOBA." GOBA is a bike trip we do every summer in Ohio, so we thought it was hilarious. We had a bit of a tail wind all the way to our next sag stop.

After the stop came one of the greatest experiences of the trip. Wade thinks Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevadas were better, but I would put this at the top. About 3 miles after we left the stop, we saw 4 tunnels. Two for each lane of I-80 going through a mountain, and two for each direction of the railroad. We took some pictures, then we moved on to the great part. We were on a road that followed I-80, then when I-80 went through the mountain, we went around. Where we went turned out to be a canyon, and it was amazing. There was a fast moving stream on one side, and cliffs on the other. It was unbelievable. We probably spent an hour on a half mile loop around the mountain. We couldn't soak in the beauty quick enough.

After we finished the gorgeous sites around the mountain, we got to a barrier. There was a cattle guard right before a concrete barrier, so it was difficult to pass over. We had to hand our bikes to someone on the other side, then climb over ourselves. Right after we got over the barrier, we were on the westbound side of I-80... We had to get to the eastbound side. We waited for an opening then darted across two lanes. We were in the median and we could see the tunnels, so we took a quick picture. We waited again for an opening, then sprinted across the next two lanes of traffic. It was definitely an experience that most people don't get to enjoy.

After some more pictures, we headed directly east into Elko. In that stretch of Interstate into Elko, one of the riders hit a rider in front of him, and went down. He broke his collarbone and his pelvis in 3 places. He also had a lot of road rash and bleeding from the head. Luckily he didn't have a concussion or any other damage to his head or neck. They ended up care flighting him to Salt Lake City. On that sad note... At least we have 108 miles tomorrow into headwinds. We actually have two 100+ mile days in a row the next two days, so the entries will most definitely be short.