3rd June

Cycling day 8

65 miles

So we left Carson City after breakfast and joined highway 50. This was important as the road will be home for at least 4 days now. Probably as a result of new road build highway 50 is very quiet later on but is still busy in Carson.

As we left, the traffic thinned out significantly. Not long out of Carson a pickup truck pulled alongside us. The English accent was lovely to here too, this friendly guy was called Wayne. Then moments later another another truck pulled up ahead and came to see us. He was another UK expat called Donny from Northern Ireland who is proud of his roots. This became apparent when Donny invited Wayne, Andy and myself back to his home. Donny wanted to show us his flags both national and military along with photos from his service. Jerry his wife originally from Hawaii took care of us and offered a cold drink & took the photo you see of us. We needed to get back on the road, so we said our goodbyes.
We stopped for some Mexican food in Dayton and looked over the road plan. We needed to push on with the miles so we made a decision to push the days ride an extra 20 miles to Fallon as it was pretty flat and we need to keep the distances up.
Shortly after we’d set off down the 50 once again we got pulled over a few miles later by a kind and helpful man called Bruce. This was a welcomed stop because Bruce gave both of us cold Gatorade. We chatted a while till we excused ourselves. He did catch us further down the road and again offered cold refreshments.
Back on the heat shimmering road that is the 50. Definitely less Traffic now as we head past Silver Springs.
Just outside our destination and in the blazing heat (8 miles out of Fallon ) we had a flat. Andys back wheel needed fixing but we had the tools and this was sorted pretty quickly. Fortunately before heading out here we’d been given maintenance lessons and bought inner tubes before the trip. We salute you : Mark,Dave, Tristan, Andrew & Paul (Big Red Bike Co , Harrogate), you saved us today.
Andy fixed the the puncture mostly independent from me. But just as he finished putting in a new tube a car pulled in. A driver pulled alongside with a passenger. I asked for their names ‘Brad and Hannah’ as he greeted us and asked where we were staying and when we said we had nothing planned he very kindly offered to put us both up for the night. I can’t think of many people who would be this kind and trusting.
With Brad and his daughter Hannah???s signposting we found their home where we met his lovely wife Stacey. We were offered to shower, given some home cooked food and our clothes were washed. They are very kind people!
What an unexpected day’s events with meeting lots of lovely people. Tonight we sleep soundly in our tent on Bead and Staceys lawn and weve even been given a soft pillow from their home. Bliss.

On the road to Fallon

Brad and Stacey in their lovely home

The fixing!

Andy, Donny, me and Wayne

Highway 50

Day 7 of the ride

32 miles

Leaving South Lake Tahoe around 2pm

With the car handed back to Avis four wheels is now only 2. We picked our bikes up from bike hospital. I say that because one of the bikes had a problem with its crank. Over the edge cycle hospital have mended it and put us back on the road. Thanks Sam and Codie.

Looking over the Adventure cycling map, Andy, Sam and I decided that it would be best to get the hill over 1st and then it would be steady from there. Sams a nice guy and I would highly recommend Over the Edge to anyone visiting South Lake Tahoe.

Hot hot day 62 degrees Fahrenheit! Trying my best to hydrate and I’m eating candy worms, to get me up the hill.

Today, I’ve got my nurse head on trying my best to look after Andy because he’s struggling. A combination of small targets, time to catch his breath with some hydration tonic. The remedy worked and we made it to Carson City.

Prior to reaching Carson City we visited Genoa.

Here we took a look at the oldest watering hole in Nevada. It was amazing! Plus we met some great people. We made a toast to the UK. This was Donnies idea ( far left of the picture) and Andy returned the gesture to the USA. Donnies partner Laural was as much fun as Donnie. What a hoot we had!
http://www.genoabarandsaloon.com/about.cfm

I passed a snake on the way to Carson City. This was on the ground and I had take my feet off the peddles ????

When we arrived in Carson City we booked a room @ Motel 6 – Andy charmed the booking lady and bagged us a discount. Bonus!

Shattered and off to sleep @ 00.05 ( you guys will be either getting up or starting work – it will be 08:05 UK time )

Have a good day ????????????

30 miles

Approx 07:00 to 13:00hrs

Up more hills today! Well actually we went up 2 hills but they were massive.

It was freezing cold when I opened the tent zip. With this huge drop in temperature – I needed to put my quilted jacket on. But we had planned for this.

After we had some breakfast and packed the tent etc away we were back on the road.

Today’s challenge was another 800 ft to about 8800 at Carsons Pass. Then a huge 6 mile drop before reaching the perimeter of Lake Tahoe. Then 1 more final climb of around 800ft before descending and finally reaching our destination.

Let’s hope things will start to flatten out for a while and give our legs a break. They are really sore and a little swollen.

We managed to drop the bikes off at the Over The Edge bike shop for a check over of our Wiggo and Daisy. The guys at the shop are lovely and even at short notice they were happy to fit us in.

Both Andy and I are tired. We are ready for a break.Thankfully we are now taking 2 days to relax.

Oh yeah we made it to the Nevada state line!