Reno to Fernley, NV

Up at 6 at Mike’s house, I did an unusual shower to kick off my ride day. Soon, Mike and I were sharing the eggs with tofu chorizo that he whipped up for us. And at about the same time, the famous Tim Healion, promoter of the Tour de Nez bike race series here in Reno showed up. Too much wow as he and I had talked a lot over the years (6) but never met.

Soon the three of us were riding to the downtown Reno Truckee River bike trail. Along the way, we stopped at Tim’s brother’s house. Jeffrey had just moved to Reno with his Panamanian wife,  Ana, and her two kids, Joana and Jose. He used to surf professionally.

He felt the magic of this ride and kept asking me if there was anything I needed. Jokingly, I told him I needed shoes with a 3.5” sole. In size 10. He had a pair! And he insisted that I take them…….

WOW. I rode with his good mojo on my feet the rest of the 56 miles I logged today. Mike left from Jeffrey’s house and Tim guided me out the river path for a mile or so past its downtown beginning. From there on out I was  on my own on a green-lined river within which the trail sat for the next 7 miles.

It was a good way to leave Reno because next up for me was an Interstate 80 that began with rumble strips right where the bike traveler needs to be. I almost turned around and began to set out for US 50. More mountain passes and less water services were better than this.

As I thought about quitting this road, I thought about Steve Stevens. Why would he recommend it and why would Nevada State bike coordinator, Bill Story, tell me the rumble strips had been fixed?

I soldiered on. Finally seven miles later the pavement divots moved deeper and narrower next to the fog line! Yahoo, I could relax a little bit. I began to notice the history that this path cut. Below me, I could see the rail line that Thomas Stevens used when he became the first man, in 1884, to cycle across America. However, I could not see any dirt path where he was supposed to have ridden. All I saw were rocks and sheer drops from the rail bed that formed the first transcontinental railroad.

I also saw the telephone poles that made up the first transcontinental phone line. While all the while the Truckee River blessed all of this with a small ribbon of green. And this has been my view all the way to Greenly where I am staying in a Super 8 motel so I can get work done. Here for example is the map for today’s travels http://www.bikeroute.com/BRdC/routeViewer.php?routeid=207

But unless I start getting some cash flow coming in once again, I will soon run out of money. I spent $95 on food and a room with internet today. I might be able to get through Nevada, where friends of friends do not exist, at that rate, but after that I may have to call it a ride.

I cannot do the work that needs to be done from city parks or under bridge hollows. That is not what this ride is all about. I’ve done the adventure style ride before. This one has the express intent of collecting data for a SF to Boston bikeway as I meet and exchange with the city leaders and bicycle shakers and movers from each of the areas through which it passes..

Btw Do get to the Mayors’ Ride Schedule. Lori Yung has posted a lot of the pictures I have been taking there………..

Big Breakthrough in Reno

The black skyscraper in the middle is Reno City Hall, the Mayor and Council are on the 15th floor!

A major breakthrough for the ride took place today!! I got Firefox to run on my little two pound Netbook (an Acer Aspire One). Not only is my on-line life going to be infinitely easier, this also allows me to run our NBG maps at http//bikeroute.com/brdc (they do not run on IE)!! And as such instead of blowing out of Reno at 6AM, I was busy tracking my travels from South Lake Tahoe to here. 

Toward that end, I had maps and notes spread all over the bedroom here at Mike Damon’s house and nearly five hours later I had this result. Wow, what a breakthrough. Wow, what that means for this ride that I am pulling out of the ashes of the bus and crew that once was going to  support it!!

My next job was to make sure it was acceptable to the Nevada state Bike Coordinator, Bill Story, who I met yeas ago at Interbike. He had already sent me email to tell me about water availability out on I-80 as Jeff Moser from BikeCarson.com had told him I was coming through……But not before I made sure it was OK with Mike Damon who had a work party to go to this eve and would not be around until 6PM. He said yes with the only condition being that I get his kids on top of my Eagle for a picture tomorrow morning!!! As I was speaking with Bill, I asked him a bunch more questions about I-80. And he knew the answer to every one of them. From the shoulder width, mostly generous, to hotel cost, $30 to 90, to the total amount of miles, almost 400, to the road grade for the three passes that are out there, less than 6%, etc, etc, he knew the road very, very well!!
Then I went by phone to my Internet guru, Lori Yung। She told me how to get a around on this Windows machine a little better so I could access my files. She also tracked down some html editing software that we are hoping will let me see my files a WYSIWYG if that means anything to you.
I also spent some time at REI’s site. In lieu of all the money I am going to spend on hotels out there on 1-80, I had thought I could camp. Having a tent to do so would also give me needed privacy and a place to meditate at mid-day. However, it looked like a five-pound penalty for Peter Wagner’s rack. And at 7 x 23 folded down, the size for what they have is also a concern. Might there be any one out there with a 2 or 3 lb. tent I could borrow for a few months that they are not using? 

Thx 4 all of U!!

Mike Damon's Reno

At left is Mayor Bob Cashell, who has ridden the Busycle before along with his scheduler Marcia Morse, who I have talked with for years and bike favorable councillor, Dave Aizzi, in their office 15 floors above the city.

Today began at the usual 6AM but not on the road. Mike and his wife Semi, fixed me a batch of banana pancakes that were ready for me to eat after I took a delicious shower and answered a few emails. His twin 9 year olds, Timmy and Johnny, were up and excited that they were going to be riding their bikes down the hill two miles away to school. Tho Mike was instrumental in getting the road to their school restriped with bike laqnes, he is a wee bit nervous about letting them do the two mile distance by themselves just yet.

He plans to document how our Mayors’ Rides made what was once a 4 lane speedway into a tame two lane bikeway that the community loves, but until he does, I will just say that the alliance he formed with Mayor Bob Cashell and Councillor Dave Aizzi, saved what was going to be certain hell for cyclists from becoming a reality. The transformation that is now taking place on Mayberry Dr has everyone excited, both cyclists and non cyclists.

Soon we were visiting cyclist, Mark Trujillo at his coffee shop, Waldens, where he comped me a fruit smoothie while we waited for the kids school to be ready for me. Soon, I gave three presentations to three different classrooms. In 15 to 20 minutes time, I told the kids what I was doing and why. I also planted the car free seed for them to consider. When I opened things up to questions, they were non stop.. So much so that Mike had to step in say he had to get to work where he had a lot of fires that were already there to fight as soon as he arrived.

Mike went to work and rode to downtown five miles away where I wrestled with the Evil Microsft Empire that governs this precious Acer Netbook. I plan for this to be my one internet accomplishment for the day here att Dreamers Coffee shop overlooking the Truckee River and City Hall. However, I did try to download an FTP utility for this machine so I could keep BikeRoute.com current. I tried three different apps, and could not hit a home run with any of them. Several hours later, nothing.

While I waited for downloads to be complete, I tried to clean up my blog writing. More DOS frustration as the Blogger.com program started changed my text into illegible Hindi characters. Ugh……….

Hmm, maybe this is pay back for my being a traitor to my not being on the Mac platform, which is all I’ve known, and as a power user, for two decades now……….

More later if I get time, but tomorrow is I80 into Salt Lake..

Thx FOR ALL OF U!!

Over the Sierras into Tahoe

The riding work of Sunday and Monday left me with little energy or really any ability to document a lot of what took place. While it was good that I chose US 50 in the interest of getting some traction for my efforts, because it was a holiday weekend, the incessant car herds made it very hard for me to take either of my hands off the bars a lot of the time. After I left Alder Creek campground along 50 with a 6AM start, my hands were so cold, I couldn't feel them. So trying to get on the road before the cars  did not work either.

It did get me over a pretty large ascent into the small town of Strawberry before I then took on 7500-foot Echo Summit. Both passes required a tremendous amount of effort. I pretended like I was doing a gym workout where I would push for 40 or so minutes and then start looking for a turnout where I could stop and rest.

When one coming up and was ready for a rest, I stopped where these widened spots in the road began Then I  walked me and my bike to their top most end and sat down. I drank water and ate an energy bar or two as I caught my breath. Ten, sometimes fifteen minutes later, I would use the turnout to remount, as I could not do so on the uphill, and ride to where  I had gotten off and turned around back up the hill for more.

In all, on each long 6% grade, I must have made five or six stops during the day. I also used these stops to take photos and talk ideas into my recorder. of which i realized that not a lot needs to be done to make US 50 bike worthy indeed.

Before I climbed Echo, I stopped in the tiny town of Strawberry and talked to Jim, the proprietor of its only store. He said his business is down by a third due to the downturn in the economy and that what scares him is all the people paying for three and four dollar items with credit cards. He said he sees one or two bike riders a week here and yet I am sure he would more than happily welcome all the bike riders that would come his way if the biking were better on this stretch. In fact, there are a lot of little hotels and other purveyors who would be much benefited with more such bike traffic!

From Echo Summit, I looked down on the south end of the Lake Tahoe valley as I rolled down a fast downhill that went down forever. In doing so,  I took the whole lane and prayed as I powered along with my legs crossed in front of the steer tube. Holiday cars were backed up coming from Tahoe as I scorched past them. And I was moving as I thought a bout all the people and reasons I needed for this descent to have no errors.

The uphill traffic was no doubt astounded but I did not dare to let myself be distracted by looking. I couldn't help but notice the grey rock wall adjacent to them. or in other words, how to get a bike lane in there was a big hmm. But I did make it to the bottom safe, sound and relieved. as well as grateful to all of you for your prayers and support.

Soon I made contact with Chuck Harrison, an employee of Lynn LePage's back in Folsom. Chuck, an 86 TransCon vet, was at the beach but told me to come to his cabin whenever I was ready. He had wifi and power that I could use! However since he was five miles away, I decided to work on-line at a deli until later in the afternoon. However their wif went down after a few hours and I headed up S. Lake Tahoe Blvd to his house.

I got there without my precious computer though and had to go back. This required an anxious ten-mile detour that must have made me famous as I traveled back and forth on what is also US 50, the Lincoln Highway. It was also a mistake that did not leave me much time to visit with Chuck............

The next day I rode to Carson City over yet another pass made worse by some huge climbing around the lake. More on that next blog.........

THX 4 all of U!!