Day 9 Battle Mountain to Elko, Nevada 73 miles 2500 feet of climbing

battle mountain.  4:48 am

a very interesting day today.  it was cool this morning with fog hovering on the mountains.  probably a left over from the hellacious thunderstorms we had last night [talk about timing...we had just gotten back to the motel as the purple heavens opened up with a lightning show and downpour that lasted for hours].

sunrise out of battle mountain

as opposed to past rides, this morning many of us started out at the same time and rode together for the 27 miles until the first sag stop.  it was a great time to tell stories, relax and just enjoy the surroundings.  as a result of the construction, many of us wound up falling back into riding solo throughout the rest of the day.

road construction along I-80

it was a weird day on the road.  after the first rest stop, much of remainder of the day was riding in and out of construction all along I-80.  at times, it was actually a thrilling experience.  when the two-lane roads were down to one lane each way, we were allowed to ride directly on the highway along the closed lane.  and, at a bypass just past carlin canyon, the eastbound lane of I-80 was closed to traffic for fifteen miles.  so it was just us riding along the highway.  one of the guys took a video of me singing the eagles "life in the fast lane."  i'm trying to get it sent to me so i can share with you.

the humboldt river along carlin canyon 

this is only a third of the way up emigrant pass looking back down the valley floor

today's route map.  yes, that's emigrant pass in the middle of the ride

the big challenge of the day was a monster 10-mile climb up to emigrant pass.  but there was also the ride through carlin canyon along the humboldt river.  simply beautiful.

today's route was the main thoroughfare for settlers coming from the east.  one look from the top of emigrant pass and those travelers easily could have thought twice about proceeding west.  all they would have seen as far as the horizon would have been the desert.  supposedly upon seeing what lay ahead, many just turned back.

home for the night.  they even rolled out the welcome mat!

tomorrow, we ride our last day through nevada, ending at the border town of wendover.  it's a 108-mile ride with another long climb.  but the killer is that wendover is in the mountain time zone.  so i'm going to lose an hour of sleep.