Day 10 Elko to West Wendover, Nevada 107 miles 3350 feet of climbing

first off, apologies for the delay in my postings.  but, as you'll shortly read, there was a really good reason.

early morning fog on the mountains

today's ride was another long, hot day.  the first half of the ride was a slow, steady but gradual grade off the valley floor that culminated in a very long, steep climb up to pequop summit.

did we make a wrong turn somewhere?  in the middle of nowhere, this exit shows up.  and nothing around it.

but as opposed to most of the days before, today started out very cool on the valley floor with fog shrouding most the mountains in the distance.  as was the case with the storm that we experienced the night before, the weather overnight was the cause of new conditions.  a front came through overnight that cooled things down dramatically.

it's always such wonder to feel yet another day of 100+ degree heat and look up to see snow-capped mountains

the ride out of elko started on the frontage road paralleling I-80 for about ten miles.  we then got on the highway and spent the rest of the day there.

as we rode down I-80, to the right, we fog was slowly lifting off of ruby mountain, the tallest of the mountains on the nevada side of the wasatch range.  it was beautiful to see, especially with its snow-capped peaks.

the canyon climb up pequop summit

again today, we experienced more road construction.  it's such a rush to be riding right down the middle of the highway with no cars around.   i spent much of the day riding solo.  occasionally, i'd either come up to or be passed by another rider.  i rode with gene for about five miles and with diego as the two of us battled our way up pequop summit, but the rest of the day was by myself.

the scenery on either side of the climb was worth the picture (and the respite!)

i've always loved the incongruous nature of the world around me, so i was particularly amused during my ride through independence valley.  it was basically a boring stretch of sand and scrub, sage brush and cacti.  and there, smack dab in the middle of nowhere, was a prison.  a prison, right in the middle of independence valley.  god, i love oxymorons.

as the day drew on, the weather began to change.  i got in before many of the riders as, as a result, missed the hailstorm and rain that soaked them on the last climb of the day.  but i had other things to deal with.

entering west wendover.  the salt flats really look like the ocean off in the distance.

coming over the last climb, we entered west wendover and, with that, our first view of the famed salt flats of utah.  honestly, the first thought that i and most of my fellow riders had upon seeing them was that we had hit the ocean.  from our vantage point, it really looked like water.

so, why the delay in posting?

i finished the 107 miles of ride.  i came off the exit on I-80, stopped at the stop sign, turned right and headed downhill to the last right hand turn that would lead into the hotel on the main drag of west wendover.  with the green light in my favor, i made the right hand turn.  well, sort of.  somewhere in the middle of that turn, with me doing probably around 17 or 18 miles per hour, my bike slid out from under me.  [for the next two days, everyone in the ride would speculate as to the cause of this accident].  i can't tell you whether i hit a patch of sand or if my front tire blew out [it was flat when i got back to my hotel room, but i don't recall it being flat for that last 1/4 of a mile ride to the hotel when i picked myself up and continued onward].

what happened during that slide and crash was a tumble of asses and elbows.  as the bike was sliding out from under me to my left, my right side was heading straight down towards the pavement.  i remember landing hard on my right shoulder, then my helmet hitting the pavement.  apparently, as all the scrapes and bruises would soon prove out, i not only hit the ground, i also bounced and slid.  somehow, i would up on my back.  lying there in the street, dazed and confused, two cars came up to me.  the woman in the white compact stopped next to me, rolled down her passenger side window and shouted out to ask if i was okay.  lying on my back on the street, i started to laugh.  i'm not sure, i replied, but let's see.  slowly, i got up, checked all my body parts to see if anything was broken and waved her on when i felt okay.  i got back on my bike, rode to the hotel, checked in and got my bike and my bags and went up to my room.  the only thing i knew at that time was that my right shoulder not only hurt like the dickens, but that i also couldn't raise my right arm above my waist.

i knew i probably needed someone with more professional experience and medical education to take a look at my shoulder.  so i washed off the remains of the street from my knees, elbows, forearms and thigh and went downstairs to find the ride leaders.  shortly thereafter, we all started to ask for the location of the nearest immedia-center or doc-in-the-box.  then reality struck.  we were reminded that we were in west wendover.  the only thing resembling what we were asking for was a health clinic somewhere on the west end of the town.  the reason i'm saying "somewhere" is that three different people gave us three different directions to this place.  and, mind you, the town consists of three casinos, two strip malls and a couple of gas stations and assorted houses.  it's not like you can get lost in this place, yet no one [all three directions turned out to be the wrong streets and distances] actually knew where the clinic was.

andy kaplan, our mechanic, volunteered to drive me to the clinic and hang with me.  after a number of wrong turns and attempts to find this place via google navigation, we finally fell into it in the midst of yet another u-turn.  and we were fortunate to get there when we did.  turns out the clinic was only open until five and we got there fifteen minutes before closing.  the folks inside were super.  friendly, encouraging and concerned.  i think that last part was a bit of wondering whether or not they had the right tools to diagnose whatever was my problem.  when i asked what happens to people with much more serious issues that occur after 5:00 pm, almost in unison, they all responded that salt lake city, over two hours away, was the closest hospital and trauma facility.  after about half an hour of questions, physical exams and x-rays, it was determined that i hadn't broken any bones.  but it was also likely that i'd either re-torn my right labrum or, worse, torn my rotator cuff and/or supraspinatus muscle.  that is one of the four rotator cuff muscles and is responsible for me being able to lift my arm.  

the bottom line on my shoulder:  i couldn't lift my arm in front of my more than about 20 degrees.  i couldn't lift my right arm out to my side more than 45 degrees, i couldn't extend my arm forward to straighten it out and i couldn't lift my right elbow up to my waist.   later on at dinner, everyone pointed out all the contusions that i either hadn't noticed or hadn't felt.  it looked like i had a second kneecap on my left leg and, just below my left elbow, it looked like i was hiding a golf ball.  that and all the road rash on my right forearm and peeled skin on my knees and elbows made for quite a sight.  i totally lucked out when my head it the ground as the helmet caught the entire impact along the right side of my forehead.  my helmet actually looked pretty good afterwards, with only the major scratches to show that anything happened.

after dinner, i sat in my room, downing advil and applying bags of ice to shoulders, knees and contusions.  as it was too late to call any of my medical contacts in the new york area until morning, i figured i'd sleep on it and see how things were in the morning to determine whether or not i'd continue to ride.