...finding the light, Utah into Nevada

What a day, very, very long but quite possibly the biggest day so far in so many ways. In some respects the main thing from a riding point of view is finding the light, riding out of Utah this morning was so uplifting, unbelievable scenery, cooler temperatures (< 70 degrees until late morning) flat roads and, a tail wind!  Virtually effortless riding for over 70 miles, a real big break after the last few days, finding the light in Utah!

We had to change the route again, extending our destination to Tonopah, due to no accommodation in the previous (and only) town and then, as you will read, having to cross a desert to reach the Motel. We were told by Neil Hanson (CO) before coming out here to expect nothing in this part of the country, and this is exactly how it is, there is nothing, vast, vast empty spaces of nothing, you miss one town or even a house and the next is 70, 80 or 90 miles away. So here we are in Tonopah Nevada, next stop 70 or 80 miles on.

The day started well, riding out of Delta and through the  Great Salt Lake Desert along Highway 6, to the left, in the distance in Sevier Lake, a silvery white line across the open desert with the Virgin Mountains as a backdrop to the South. After only a few miles on the road we passed the 'shoe tree' on the roadside, pairs of shoes and trainers thrown into the dead tree, we googled the meaning of this out of interest, it appears that there is no real reason, but it was different to anything we'd seen before.

The route was an early introduction into a vast landmass of empty, barren nothingness, you can't describe this place, it's impossible to put into words, you look 30 miles each side, 50 miles ahead and back, nothing, absolutely nothing, and here you are on a bike with a support car somewhere along the road. There is no phone connection, no wi fi, no towns, no houses, nothing,you are alone in a big way until reaching the only town, of Ely, en route to Tonopah.

Long sections of flat roads made for easy riding, with several long descents into the deserts with speeds of over 35mph that went on for over 5 miles at a time. To add to the general mind stretch of such a vast space, you ride past 'School Bus Stop' signs in the middle of the desert, announcing a pick up point 1 mile ahead, you look round, possibly 30 or 40 miles in ever direction, there is nothing, you come across the nearest school around 70 miles further down the road!

We re-grouped at a service station/ motel/ shop/ casino/ cafe/ office in the middle of the desert right on the Utah/ Nevada State line, from there it was riding into the town of Ely and then into the Great Basin towards Warm Springs and Tonopah. Again, vast, unimaginable spaces of emptiness with one road that continually disappeared to a point far away into the distant horizon, repeating itself over and over again. Trying to explain or describe this place is impossible.

Due to the extended distance and lateness of the day there was a need to jump back into the support car, but little did we expect that this would also be imposed on us. Firstly (in the middle of the desert) we were again 'Stopped' due to road works, halted for nearly 30 minutes to then be escorted by a Pilot Control Car through the desert. Riding over roads newly sprayed with tar ('alive' in the baking sun) would have destroyed the bike. The second unexpected stop, some forty miles further down the road was by a local rancher, stopping us (one other car and a motorbike) to allow time for (yes, real cowboys here) to drive the cattle across a great distance of desert and across Highway 6, the lady rancher come traffic controller said to us 'that this was to avoid the herd being 'Goosed' and taking off' across the desert' so we duly obliged, sitting the in the desert for nearly one hour, a vast open space playing our part in something that had nothing to do with riding a bike.

The collection of photo's will hopefully give some sort of idea the territory, landscape and environment that has been ridden and driven today, incredible. Being alone (very alone) on a bike, with two water bottles, ten gels, covered in P20, dressed in nothing other than lycra becomes truly bizarre the more you think about it.

As we drew closer to Tonopah the regularity of dust storms, dust funnels spiralling across the desert next to you paled into insignificance as the darkest most menacing storm we've seen yet closed in all around us, the desert became black, this would not have been a time to be on the bike, the few vehicles that are out here on the road don't stop, the safety is in reaching one of these two towns 80-90 miles apart.

There is so much more to write about today, that will be added at a later date probably back in the UK, but it seems like a lifetime has been packed into 12 hours, it is truly an incredible, in many ways daunting, place. To cross such a vast landscape dressed in lycra on 14 grams of carbon adds to the incredulity of the day, maybe a modern day carbon cowboy!

It has been a truly incredible day and, importantly, for the riding the light has been found for sure! So, still on the road, still pushing ahead, one purpose awareness & fundraising and one goal, San Francisco, time to dream!! tomorrow, all being well, we will cross into California, the final of 12 US States on what has been a monumental challenge!

(ps various body pains seem to have subsided, the bronchitis remains, three fingers on the left hand are now continually numb and the neck feels locked into a forward looking level position, at least it's forward looking, the bits that touch the saddle are beyond comment and description, the fine print on the Health Insurance Policy is being checked, this is truly how bad it is, long distance cycling, bloody hell!!).