Day 10 - Austin to Eureka

                                                Friday June 02, 2017

This morning, Ian and I where the last  of the three pairs of riders to get on the road. Ian said he saw Markus/Markus ride past our campsite at about 7:30am. Then at about 8am, Nick/Kristen set out. They were early today because Ian brought 2 pizzas back to the campsite yesterday evening and gave one to them. They saved it and had it for breakfast. Meanwhile, Ian and I went to the town cafe, and so didn't get started until 9am. I was a bit slow this morning, sleeping later than Ian. But the weather was forecast to stay in the low 80's, so no need to rush. Future mornings when hot weather is forecast will require earlier starts.

The steep climbing, which started below the town of Austin yesterday, continued on thru town and up to a double pass, including Austin summit at 7484 ft. It was a difficult 1300 ft of climbing to start to the day. A 3rd pass was followed by a 40 mile flat to slightly downhill section, which was nice except that the wind was more sporadic today and sometimes blew at from the east.
At about mile 35, the halfway point of today's ride, we pulled into a nice covered rest area out in the middle of nowhere. Nick/Kristen where there eating lunch. We joined them for a bit. They weren't in any hurry and so we left before they did. Hopefully they weren't too late in getting to Eureka.

We were dreading the last climb of the day up to Eureka. On the map profile it looked to be a steep 1000 ft climb. Those are killers at the end of the day when the body is tired. But the map makers must have put the town of Eureka at the wrong location on the profile, as we barely climbed half that height before we arrived in town. That was good for us today, but it just means that we will have to climb the other 500 ft tomorrow morning.

Once we arrived in Eureka we saw Markus/Markus riding around looking for a motel. We did the same, and then saw them again at dinner at The Owl Club. After dinner we did laundry, which should now last us until our break in St George.

Today's stats: 70 miles at 13.3 mph and 2800 feet of climbing. Both Ian and I are feeling the ride on our posteriors, which takes some of the fun out of riding. We have now done 10 straight days of riding and are contemplating a rest day, which is on our schedule. We'll see what happens after tomorrow as we ride 77 miles to Ely. The little towns out here are widely spaced.

Mike