Sept 13^th

I awoke especially early this morning at five thirty, finished packing, showered and said goodbye to my cell. I headed over to The Cozy Diner for the breakfast Special (they have a couple) I had the $1.99 breakfast with an extra pancake and coffee, fueled and ready I rode away from Red Bluff and into the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

I know there is a pass today it sits over fifty miles away at 5255 feet; I won’t make it there today but I will get close. Highway 36 crosses the whole state of California from east to west or vise versa and so I am back on it again for the second half of my California crossing. The 36 starts nice and flat with a couple of gradual climbs after about 6 mi that lead to the major ones later. The fields on both side of the road are the color of golden wheat except it is dry grass about 2 feet tall with lava rocks strewn across it form an eruption no doubt, it looks rather baked like it could ignite if you looked at it wrong or gave it lip. Though I have only been on the road for forty minutes the temperature has gone up ten degrees it is starting to look like a warm day with the high clouds and blues sky all around.

I soon get into the rhythm of climbing as I go up one ridge after another the legs turning over and over again my heart beating in my chest resounding in my ears, my breathing in sync with my legs all is kinetic motion. I have a new weapon on hills the iPod not a new idea but one I was not able to do until now, I finally figured out how to get the files I needed loaded and keep them there…it’s a long story. Today was my first time trying the music while climbing thing and am not sure yet if I like it. I rode for about three and a half hours before lunch I only stopped because I knew I should eats but I wasn’t really hungry, must have been the pancakes?

Lunch tucked away I had a  problem I didn’t have enough water to make it to the town of Mineral, I would have to stop someone and get some. I rode for about 5 more miles before I dismounted and held out an empty water bottle up in the air to attract a motorist; I now know how Ralph must feel with Pono his Hawk, I was standing on the side of the road with a lure trying to have a motorist stop next to me and give me water, it worked on the first car. The car that stopped was driven by Dennis a California Ranger or Fireman or both? I am not sure but he was nice enough to stop; though a search of his truck reveled no water.  We had a short chat he is a friendly guy, thanks for stopping Dennis. He did tell me about the old Fire Station a few miles up the road that I could get water from, I thanked him and he left to check on his crew of workers. I tried couple of more cars then decided to make it to the fire station. I was at about thirty eight hundred feet with a thousand to go before I could camp and I needed water first so I put my head down cranked out the miles up the hills and found the fire station and a great water supply.

Water on board I continued my assault on the Mtn, which was becoming harder due to the increasing number of small black flies constantly buzzing and landing on my face. At times there were 20-30, it started with a couple no big deal but soon I was waving my hand in front of my face to make them go away so much that the next day my arms were sore from the exercise. I was frustrated to say the least and a couple times it was so bad I thought about taking a ride in a truck but as I thought about it more I began to understand, to give into these little pests now would be foolish as the pest later would be worse. I was aiming for a campground about five miles away with the hope of it having Hiker/Biker camp spots, it didn’t. I arrived at the CG and was astonished to see the nightly fee was $18 I grabbed more water and moved on towards Mineral a few miles up the road. About ¼ mile from the CG I found a blocked road on the left side that had a cable across the entrance and little sign of use so I skirted under the cable and found a nice spot about forty feet from the road. I set up camp and was making dinner when I noticed this person standing down the road towards the told truck and building at the far end about two hundred yards. I pretended not to notice, I was hoping I was imagining it, I wasn’t.

I took a good look and the person was coming towards me so I cut off the stove and headed out to meet this person I was hoping was the owner so I could ask if it is OK to poach and act real tired so they won’t send me on. Turns out Dan was just looking at the trees that need to be cut down, he works for a survey company and was sent to evaluate the property since it borders the road. Relieved we talked for a while and he mentioned he saw me on the road, interesting very few people I meet have ever seen me on the road, it has happened only one other time in Oregon a lady at a Subway Restaurant saw me on her way to work and now Dan…cool. Dan said the owner was never there and I could stay the night.

After Dan left I went back to listening to music and updating the journal for the day until Dan showed back up he wanted to tell me about a trash transfer station close buy, could be bears in the area and he said that just after we talked he was headed back to his truck when he heard a loud POP like a window breaking; he raced to his truck. Someone lowlife had just broken into it and stole his briefcase and lunch but luckily not his wallet or phone. I was shocked but he said it is happening more and more, I took all my stuff to bed with me and slept with one eye open and a hand on the pepper spray.

Sept 14^th

COLD…SO COLD I woke up to 32 degrees in the tent. Today is the coldest it has ever been on my trip, I had ice once but the temp read 38.

I was slow to get up mainly because the sun was slowly waking and I could sense the thaw coming if I just stayed in bed a bit longer. It was nine am when I finally rolled away from my poached CG and headed into the town of Mineral which I passed almost not noticing is was so small. Just outside of town the climbing started and would not let up for an hour and a half. At the top was the turn to Lassen National Park which I would not be taking and a 6% downgrade for 3 miles I was happy to conquer another pass and cross over the Sierra Nevada Range.

After the pass and the sweet downhill the terrain mellowed out and started to become a bit more familiar like I had been here before. I was having that feeling since I saw the turn to Chico on the 32. It wasn’t until I cruised down the last hill into Chester that it hit me I had been here before about 7 years ago on a bike tour from Reno to Ashland, OR.

I was remembering that there was a grocery store in town if it is as remembered I would be right though I felt strongly I had been here before. The store was there but had been remodeled so the inside was different, the outside stayed the same. I also went to the local bike shop I stopped in last time and the same kid Colby was working though he looked much older than the kid I had met years ago, sadly he didn’t seem to remember me stopping buy last time, even though we had talked about DH racing then and the California Circuit, he had owned a Titus Cycles bike and I had raced them…oh well I guess I am not that memorable… Whaaaaaaa!  I’m Ok... really I’ll be fine.

          I  stopped buy the local book shop to see if they had the book ‘The Road’ I had heard good things from Todd, they had it but for $14, I am going to try and find a used one. I left town my next stop being somewhere between Westwood and Susanville in about twenty miles. The climb out from Chester and its lake was a stiff one; I was passed by 2 road cyclist the guy said nothing it was the girl who said, not Hello but “that looks like a lot of stuff” why do people like to point out the obvious? I hear it a lot “you’re loaded down”! Sometimes I feel like saying “Damn is that the problem, I thought I left all this stuff at home, thanks for telling me”! Maybe I am just being crabby but man sometimes it’s like just say Hello! I know it’s a way to break the ice and start a conversation I get that !!

At the top of the climb I was greeted with a flat to rolling terrain that kept me at about 5100 feet for the afternoon. I made camp early after 55 miles and 5:45:45 of ride time. I wanted to split up the next 3 days to Reno so I needed the extra miles for the next 2 and a half days or I would be there on Thursday which might happen anyway depends on the terrain. Once again I find myself camped by the road but I think it is a good spot cars can’t see me form either direction unless they really look for me, and I have a flat spot with a nice carpet of pine needles to put my tent on. I was a little bit worried about the spot I chose but it was fine no one noticed me and I slept through the night.

Sept 15^th

I left early as I could due to the cold and made my way to the top of  the pass, it's smooth sailing all the way to Susanville.

The ride was great and I only had 16mi to make it to Susanville, Ca. I rolled up and down after the pass and found myself on a three mile descent into SV, I love the payback. I was looking for a book store when I came across a bike shop with a cool name ‘Bicycle Bananas’ I stopped by this cool little shop and had a great conversation with Yancy the MAN at the shop. He was easy to talk to and had a great attitude about bikes and the town he lived in.  The shop is small but packs a good amount of stuff bikes parts and even a few rentals and I am told by Yancy that in Susanville is some of the best single track in northern California. The store is new about 3 months but they have a sister store in Reno that supports them.  Good Luck Bicycle Bananas!!

I noticed a change in the environment as soon as I left SV, the area is flat, arid, with dry grass and low humidity like I haven’t seen yet and the wind is also howling luckily in my direction. This means I have finally found the allusive combination of flat sunny and tail wind, I can now say I have cycled with the big 3 in my favor I hope the trend will continue…and it does. I make my way to Doyle about 43 miles away along flat roads with 80 degree weather and the sweet push of a tailwind.

I stop for the night at an RV park just before Doyle and the kind lady Pat allowed me to stay for free and even gave me a private bathroom key for the night, I would recommend it but she said the place is sold and the new owners are taking charge next week so her kindness may not be there much longer. I made camp in a heavy wind it was great while I was riding but a bastard when I stopped, I had to wait until the sun went behind the mtn for the wind to die enough to cook, the wind finally quit around seven. According to Pat the kids running around on the 2 stroke shitty motor bikes are druggie kids, so I kept my stuff close to me and the bear spray at the ready and fell asleep.

Sept 16^th

I awoke to wind and cold. Unfortunately the wind was a head wind and the cold was driven by the wind.

I packed; said goodbye to the more than dirty bathroom dropped off the key and pedaled away into a cold wind. It’s 47 miles from Doyle to Reno I figured it would take me about 4 hours to make the trip seeing as I was at 4100ft and had to gain 1000ft then drop down another 800. It took 5:04:04. The headwind lasted for about 12mi then suddenly there was no wind at all. I climbed a shallow grade for 20mi the terrain getting more arid and less treed as I got closer to the Nevada Border. Just before the 70 I stopped at another 'Shoe Tree" this one not as big as the other one but covered with a great many shoes. I passed the hallelujah junction and route 70 which I rode several years back, I thought it would be mostly downhill and I was kind of right the road undulated up and down for the rest of the day, and I made it to Reno the ‘Biggest Little City in The World’ or some stuff like that.

I stayed in Reno for a couple days gambled the rest of my saving away in a bad run at the Slots and now have to sell my stuff to get to Phoenix….Not really I dint even drop a dime on gaming I was born in Nevada... I know better!!

Continued on the Nevada page