Day 8 Sea 2 Shining Sea

Well, lets start with our longest day so far. We rode 111 miles across a very desolete section of Nevada. The next couple days will be pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The distances between towns is exactly how long our days are. It started with a slight descent for the first 25 miles and a steady climb for the next 73 miles followed by a 10 mile descent, ending with a very cruel 3 mile steep climb to our hotel. We did our best to pace ourselves to finish strong and not go out too fast in the beginning. But we were rolling at 26mph during the first hour. We needed to back it down a bit if we didn't want to wear out well before the finish. So we started climbing at a more controlled pace.

After another great lunch previded by our amazing surport crew, Larry and I continued at a good pace. Midway up our last big climb I saw a cyclist in the distance riding with a full set of panniers. When we caught him we slowed to say hi, the best move we could have ever made. His name is Tom Riley and he is riding around the world. THE WORLD!!! He is 12,000 miles into his journey and started riding out of San Fransisco a day after we started. Tom is riding for a cause called Around the World for Water. At the top of the hill we stopped to take a picture

At the top of the hill Larry and I left Tom for the ten mile descent. A ten mile descent is a thing of pleasure after so much climbing. Larry and I love to go downhill. I do my best to explan as much as can to Larry of what I see during our day. This descent was extra special as we were being lead down the hill by a hawk that was flying just in front of us at over 40mph. He just floated from side to side down the road for over 3 miles. I so wish I could have gotten my camera out to take a video of this hawk watching over us. Very cool!!

To add to the experience, during our descent we passed the 100 mile mark. This is Larry's first century! We hit the century mark at 5 hours and 30 minutes. That is a great time for such a hilly hard ride. Way to go Larry!!

But this ride is 111 miles long. The last 5 miles hurt like hell. Straight up to the town of Austin. Lots of pain for the end of such a great day. We got to our room and could not get showered fast enough so we could eat everything in site.

Tom showed up in Austin as we were leaving for dinner. We invited him to stay with us since he had planned to riding up the road to camp. We insisted he stay with us, take a shower and join us for dinner. Great plan. He stayed and everyone loved to hear his stories of traveling around the world.