Nevada cranked the difficulty level up to eleven on me yesterday. Two mountain passes each of around 2,000 feet of elevation gain followed by truly agonizing headwinds. What should have taken around an hour to ride took three over the last fifteen miles. This state, or at least this section of it, has been brutal thus far. Hanging out at the campground bar last night I was talking with a guy about the next rural stretch from Baker to Ely. He confirmed what my map said about there being one service stop, a restaurant, roughly halfway. A small tavern that sold beer and hamburgers. After bumming one pop tart from the other cyclist camping with me I set off with no food because Baker had only a restaurant and it wasn’t open yet. For 35 miles I fantasized about the juicy hamburger that was waiting for me. One and a half passes later I was finally there, but to my disappointment they no longer served hot food so I had to settle for a small bag of chips. Thankfully they still had an ice machine so cold water wasn’t an issue the rest of the ride. That left the headwinds and the pit in my stomach as the antagonists. When I had finally made it into town the casino hotel had no vacancy so I camped in the RV park and booked a room for tonight. When I get back in the saddle it’s another barren stretch of 78 miles with no services. Haven’t quite decided how to tackle it yet. A ride through the night is looking like a good idea at the moment, but for now it’s time for poker.
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