Day 7: Lovelock to Minnemucca

Today’s Highlights:
Good old headwinds! They don’t call this a “cross-country challenge” for nothing. Today we traveled 73 miles NNE to Winnemucca into a strong, steady wind from the north the entire way. The morning was particularly grueling, and I struggled with all my pedal power to reach 10 mph on flat, straight, open roads. On slight inclines, it was sometimes tough to go 8 mph. The morning temperature was a comfortable 66 degrees, but it quickly climbed to 80 an hour into the ride and to mid-nineties within three hours. The combination of the heat and wind was like a convection oven, and I needed a lot more water than usual. The roads were generally good today, either on Interstate 80 again, or some frontage road along side it. For several miles on the interstate, the shoulder had rumble strips every twenty feet to add to the discomfort.

On the bright side, the north wind cleared the air, and we had a bright blue sky and miles of clear visibility. There are low mountain ranges on both side of our route and it’s interesting to see their different colors and the vegetation changes across them. One particular mountain was noticeably green, and once further from it, I also noticed it still has a little snow on top. We passed an large lake where the Rye Patch State Rec Area is – another surprise in the desert. Occasionally, we passed ranches with some open range cattle, and some corrals with lama, sheep, goats or horses. Even more rarely we passed farms with irrigation, producing lush green fields that are such a rare sight here.

We started our day with breakfast at the Cowpoke Cafe, where we also had dinner the night before. The food was very good and the staff was especially friendly.

Even though today’s ride was twenty miles shorter than yesterday, it took me twenty minutes longer to finish. I reached the hotel around 1:30 with only a 13.3 mph average.

Pictures Of The Day:

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Statistics:
Zoom and pan the map to explore the route. Click the name or ‘View Detail’ to view more information at Garmin Connect.