Ride the West: Flying on I-80 into Lovelock

Day 6

Sparks to Lovelock, NV

92.5 miles

6 hours 20 minutes

14.59 mphaverage speed

43.05 mph maximum speed (On I-80)

74 rpm average cadence

1934 calories

1814’ climbing

Longest day so far but quickest into hotel. We lucked out with winds. We had some tail winds and some cross winds. Did a lot of riding on Interstate 80. We did two stretches totaling close to 60 miles. That’s a lot of semi’s and RV’s whooshing by your shoulder.

Actually, the interstate riding was a lot of fun. I managed to fall in with a 6 person pace line. We each took turns at the front for a mile. After which the front person would fade to the left and allow the line to advance and then fall back in the line at the end. This made the miles on the interstate fly by.

The added value of the pace line is that you closely follow the person in front of you, watching not to make contact with their rear wheel. Following closely in a tightly spaced line is aerodynamically more efficient and helps conserve everyone’s especially energy on a long day like today.

This stretch of I-80 had wide shoulders and they were fairly immaculate. Some debris such as tires, bottles, odd metal bits, but they were plainly visible and spaced far enough apart for riders to point out where any danger lurked.

A little more than halfway through our interstate jaunt, we pulled off the highway to at rest stop for a SAG. We ate, lathered up with sunscreen, filled up water bottles and resumed travel.

Unfortunately, I had some rocks jammed in my cleats and couldn’t clip into my pedals, so I needed to stop. After fixing my issue, I couldn’t even see the pace liners on the horizon. I was voted off the Island I guess. But that’s how fast we were going – moving between 19 and 25 mph. I just settled into a groove of about 21mph and before too many miles passed I saw some color up ahead. Apparently, one of the remaining 5 riders (Good John) got a flat and two others were assisting.

A woman rider was watching while Good John (the Scott from London) and Marlon were doing their thing. I asked if they were ok. They needed some tweezers to pull a wire out of the tire. I asked if they didn’t bring any? Well, I had some so I stopped. Then there was an issue with the tube they were trying to inflate with a manual pump. Did they have any Co2 cartridges? No. But I did. But wait. The new tube had a hole, too. They wanted to try to find the leak and repair it.

Sweet mother of god! We’re roasting on I-80 and we‘re not taking time for that! Did anyone have a spare tube? NO! Well, that’s when I kind of got snarky. I asked if anyone bothered to bring the tools and tubes the tour required. Someone said "Who’s the guy who showed up with attitude?" I said it’s the guy who has spare tubes, tweezers, and Co2 cartridges.

We laughed and got to work. But point made. As they were finishing getting tire on the rim, a SAG van pulled over and lent them a floor pump. And the 4 of us we were on our way again. Another stop for a foot massage to alleviate a hot-foot issue and we finally exited the Interstate for a service route paved with chip seal. Rough pavement for road bikes but only for the final 12 miles into the hotel.

Glad to get in early today (2:30 ish) which meant more time for laundry, ice cream, and calling home.

Everyone seems to be getting the hang of touring and we're starting to relax a bit more. Winemucca tomorrow promises to have monster tail winds. We might break more speed records.