Day 5: The Oasis of Nevada

The welcome sign to Fallon, NV deems the town as "The Oasis of Nevada." However, after we leave this oasis, we will continue on the stretch of U.S. Route 50 known as the Loneliest Road in America because of its remoteness - the next town is not for 110 miles.

U.S. Route 50 from Carson City to Fallon

But until then we will enjoy two days in Fallon, tomorrow being our first rest day. We are being put up by the Epworth United Methodist Church and its congregation.

Today (unfortunately), was my turn to drive. I say unfortunately, because although it's nice to have a recovery day, I'd much rather be out there biking with the rest of the group especially since I'll have two days off in a row with the rest day. But we all have to rotate, so I drove to the church, met with some of the members, and unloaded the car. The group arrived shortly after I finished up, with another 70ish miles behind them. I was ancy, so I ended up biking a total of 1 mile to the Post Office and back, whooo hoooo!

Not much of an eventful day, but we're working on discovering what Fallon has to offer, exploring the possibilities of going to a rodeo, a benefit concert, the nuclear weapons testing area, or a hike to Grimes Point to see 8,000 year old rock carvings.

We also went back to Tahoe last night to grab some dinner at The Naked Fish, a sushi bar. I'm not familiar with sushi at all, so this was my first experience with some raw fish and caviar toppings. Yikes. Still not too sure about what I think of it, but it was fun nonetheless.

On our way there the sun was setting and it was incredible. It was also really, really sweet to drive back on what we rode.

Day 4: Goodbye California, Hello Nevada

We actually had a pretty easy day today, which was nice after yesterday and will give us a chance to recover a bit. We had a slow morning and rolled out of South Lake Tahoe around 10. There was only 33 miles between us and our next destination, Carson City, NV. We took our time since we wouldn't be on our bikes for long today and talked to some people and took pictures along the way. We had a little bit of a climb the first leg of the trip, but nothing compared to yesterday. We reached our peak at Spooner Summit: 7,146 feet. The views today were amazing again, with mountains surrounding us and the lake on our side.

Lake Tahoe and the Mountains.

The group by Lake Tahoe.

We cruised down the mountain for the last 10 miles. I always feel bad when we're speeding down on one side and other bikers are on their way up on the other side, because we've been there and we know how it feels. When we reached the bottom, we were able to look back and pretty much stare in awe at what was behind us and what we had accomplished in the last few days. We're out of California now and into Nevada.

All of us at the California/Nevada state line.

Then we had a nice lunch compliments of The Firkin & Fox, found somewhere to stay for the night, and took some much needed naps. The rest of the night will be spent planning out tomorrow's route and enjoying the downtime.

An awesome dog named Lucy who lives at the business next to our place for the night.

On a side note, Butt Butter saved my life today and probably will for the rest of the trip. I've unfortunately become the victim of some pretty awful chaffing, which I kinda expected, but never considered its effects on the comfort during long days on the bike. We'll just say it's not the most pleasant experience. So thank you Chamois Butt'r, you're a lifesaver.

Day 3: Sierra Nevadas

We expected today to be one of the toughest of the trip, especially it being only our 3rd day on the road. We left Folsom at 7:30 after a nice breakfast and our morning bike routines. We rode for roughly 93 miles today, a good majority of it being uphill (well actually, up mountains). We ended up at 7,000 ft. elevation at our top summit, but had climbed a good deal more than that as there were some downhill slopes mixed in. The day was pretty brutal. It was the first time I questioned a few times what I was doing, but we all worked together and powered through the Sierra Nevadas. In the end, I'm even going to go out on a limb and say the grueling day was well worth the scenery we got to see. It really was astounding, I have never seen anything like it. It was unreal, the pictures don't even come close to giving what we saw justice. It was pretty cold up in the mountains though, and at one point we had snow next to us!

Shane and I were biking buddies today, Sanford and Jason paired up, and Claire and Zane rode together. It's so nice to have someone else next to you giving it their all.

We also finally had a day without any popped tires or bike problems!!! It saved so much time on the road.

The roadkill out there today was snakes, but Sanford and I suddenly realized not all of them were dead as a decent sized serpent slithered by as we were clipping back in. That was a shock. Even though I'm a reptile fan usually, when a snake that big is actually next to you and not in a zoo, it's kinda startling.

We finally got to South Lake Tahoe around 7 pm, which was actually a lot earlier than we had expected. And once again, we lucked out with housing thanks to our hosts last night.

Another big thanks goes to Mr. Tom Parisi of the Batavia Sun Newspaper. He wrote an amazing article about the ride and will be doing another piece at the halfway point to update Batavia and other followers on our progress.

Day 2: Margarita Shots

Well today was the second day on the bike and we ended up with about 45 miles for the day. I woke up a little sore, but not tooooo tooooo bad, I think I was expecting worse. The day went much more smoothly with directions and staying on track, but something is potentially wrong with Claire's bike...she has had 5 flat tires between yesterday and today, so they took a trip to the bike shop.

The group waiting for the bridge to go back down while a barge passed through.

Mike and I have become biking buddies, we are always at the same pace and on the same page with enjoying the scenery and taking everything in as we ride by.

We were also lucky enough today to bike almost completely on a path. We encountered some cool and interesting signs along the way... especially for my Chicagoan self.

We have amazing hosts tonight in Folsom, CA...we are really getting spoiled. We all have our own beds for the night, a pool, a dog, laundry, showers, and unbelievable food.

Also, thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!!! I can't believe I'm 22, so weird.

So to the post title: Margarita Shots...

We have a number of Cliff products and one type of electrolyte rechargers are Cliff Shot Blocks. We have the pleasure of eating the Margarita flavor...aka pure salt, with x3 SODIUM. Such a weird concept, but they do the trick. I think I'll be developing a Cliff product addiction by the end of the trip. Also, finally tried some energy gel aka GU. Not nearly as bad as I was bracing myself for, it was actually really good, probably because it was chocolate flavor. And considering we burned over 3,100 calories according to my speedometer, we can pretty much eat whatever we want. So I'm sure by the end I will have tried my share of good and bad flavors, so I'll keep you all posted on those experiences.

And if none of these posts ever seem logical or in any type of order, sorry. If you know me, you know this is how I work, one thing leads to another and the story goes on.

Day 1: The Epic Beginning

Today was the first day of the ride. The day started at 6:30. From there we went to Half Moon Harbor for a send off breakfast and to dip our back tires in the Pacific Ocean (and when we finish, we'll dip our front tires in the Atlantic Ocean). So that is really, really sweet and a big deal for bikers. Romy, one of the FACE AIDS coordinators was able to catch it for us in a video.

From there we had about 4 hours to make it to San Francisco to hop on a ferry across the bay, however, we ran into a few bumps in the road and made it quite an interesting day. First off, we got a little lost and took a few wrong turns, which was no big deal. Then we not only had one flat tire, but 4 in the first 10 miles of the ride and 5 by the end of the day. Not to mention, none of us had ever changed a flat bike tire before, so needless to say, that ate up some time. Then the group got split up and we literally got to the ferry at 12:38 and it left at 12:40. We BARELY made it, I'm still shocked we did. So with all that under our belts 30 miles into the trip, we thought, "What else could happen?"...Then our housing fell through. So we decided to make today's ride 100 miles instead of the original 50, so we could get to a camp site. And I have to say, it was a great day and all the bumps along the way made it that much more crazy and memorable.

I really enjoyed today and I am soooooo excited for the rest of the summer. It really is going to be an experience of a lifetime.

The group at Half Moon Harbor: Mike Stewart, Sanford Roberts, Claire Fisher, Jason Lupatkin, Shane Hegde, Zane Silver, Kirsten Pufahl.

The group dipping our tires into the Pacific Ocean.

Our first attempt at changing flat tires...

It's Here.

So I flew out to San Francisco on Thursday after about 3 1/2 months of anticipation. I literally cannot believe it's here. So much work has been put into this and there is so much work still ahead of us.

I love everything out here and the people I'll be with all summer are great. The past couple days and until we leave on Monday have been dedicated to getting to know each other and going over lots of logistics and answering any questions we can come up with, and most importantly having a good time. We've been all over getting last minute loose ends tied up.

We also went back into San Francisco last night and went to a Giants game, and my friend Mike Preuss was able to meet up with us. He just moved to the city about a week ago to work for formspring.me.

We also went for a ride this morning, which was a really good idea, considering we're all pretty inexperienced. I learned how to clip in and was surprised I didn't fall....until the last mile of 20...but I was expecting that to happen sooner rather than later. Good thing I had practiced the night before in the hallway with my host Austin, one of the riders from last year. He held my bike while I tried to clip in a million times clinging to anything I could hold onto. But, I'm feeling pretty good with them now, and it'll only get better. (There were other wipeouts too, so no worries, we all had some good laughs).

I cannot even imagine how the summer is going to be, it's already indescribable. The sites this morning just through the Palo Alto area were breathtaking. And going down hills (and soon mountains is unreal)...we easily hit 30 with our brakes on. It makes the grueling climb up it worthwhile. And I already know the best purchase I made was my camelback, and it will be my new best friend.

Another big thanks to the Daily Herald. Reporter Andrew Steckling wrote a piece about the ride as well as reporter Sammi King, who also mentioned the ride in her work. All the articles have been a HUGE help to spread the word and let people know more about the ride.

Batavia Republican

Another huge thanks to reporter Frank Vaisvilas and photographer Steve Bittinger of the Batavia Republican. They also did a great piece showcasing the Ride Against AIDS.

This is the picture featured in the on-line version of the article.

And also a big, big thank you to Batavia Prairie Path Cycles and owner Mike Farrell for all their help and support. My bike is currently being packed up and then shipped out to CA tomorrow!