Was able to cowboy camp last night, only dropped to 34*. Lovely morning peddling thru the big expanses. Hwy construction rad as cars come in clumps every hour or so, but between them nothing.
Awesome night last night. Slept nice and cozy up here above the highway under the moon. Waking up wasn't too tough this morning either as it was nice and warm out. I was able to get going at a pretty decent hour as I didn't have much to break down. Had fun rolling back down to the highway loaded up.
these basins in the morning had some cold air lingering
Back out on HWY 50 I continued westbound. Traffic was very light and the views where awesome to the west. It is amazing how warm I am up on a hillside and how quickly I get cold when the road comes down into a valley. I can actually feel the cold air resting in here and it is definitely helpful to have sleeves to push up or down as necessary. The sun was already intense for how early it was in the morning. I spied a rest area that was being repaved, but the trash cans where still open for use. I jettisoned my first fuel cartridge here. I can't believe I have traveled close to 10 days on one tiny container.
nice new pavement along this section
Shortly after the rest stop I rode up to a road crew who was repaving the highway. There was a pilot car here and that explained why I would see cars in a string, then nothing for over an hour. Worked great for me as I would have to be aware of traffic as the string of cars passed me then nothing for another hour. I timed it just right to get through the road work too. I sure liked humming along on this new pavement too.
first pass of the day
Pedaled up to my first pass of the day. Nice grade so I didn't have to work to hard to get up. Nice downhill on the other side and when I reached the valley floor I was treated with really nice views of the mountains outside Austin, NV. From here I had a huge climb though. It definitely forced me into my granny gear and it seemed real hot on the backside of this climb. I sweated my way to the top of a false summit, then took a break on top. I got a gel in me and some more water here. From here I bombed down about 600ft, then the road did a sharp turn back up to the south for the final climb. I sweated my way back up the final climb and enjoyed the aspens up here which where starting to turn. On top of the pass I took in the views and got all situated for one of the funnest downhills of the entire tour into Austin, NV.
lonely HWY 50 outside Austin, NV
I pedaled into the downhill hard and made it a game to see if I could make it the entire way without using my breaks. I was doing really well on this challenge until the final corkscrew 25 MPH turn above Austin. I can now see the benefits of using a pannier system like I am for bombing downhill. I can actually lean into the turns comfortably much like I would without a load on the bike. I couldn't imagine descending faster with any other touring set up.
fun section of road here with a big climb followed by challenging descent into Austin
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