Days 89 and 90: Fallon to Carson City

Yesterday, I started my ride at 6:20 AM after I came back from McDonald's and checked out of the motel room.

I rode on the bike lane as I rolled out of town. As soon as I made the left turn to stay on route 50 the shoulder disappeared and I was left with the rumble strips. I passed by the Lahontan Reservoir and made it to Silver Springs, where I stopped by a gas station convenience store and bought an iced tea. This was a nice break since I've gone over a third of the distance to Carson City.

Rumble strip and no shoulder

Riding along the train tracks

From Silver Springs, the road became a four lane highway with a wide shoulder to ride on. Another long distance cyclist came from the other direction, but we only waved and said hi. The traffic on the road didn't allow either of us to cross over and chat.

In Dayton, I stopped at a Taco Bell to get some rest and ate two tacos. About an hour later, I had cooled down, but the temperature outside had climbed. With the humidity, the headwind, and the hill, I slowly made progress to Carson City. There was a bike path along the side of the road for awhile into the city, but it disappeared after about a mile.

First gold discovery in Nevada was in Dayton

When I arrived in downtown, the first shop I went to was a bike shop called Bike Smith. I wanted to buy a new tire tube and a CO2 canister, but I decided to wait until I hear back from Lior, my Warmshowers host, to see if he has a tube that I can have.

I went to The Basil Restaurant for lunch, where they served me spicy Thai noodles that was really good. Soon Lior texted me and told me to get the tire tube at the bike shop and we will meet around 5 PM at the Comma Cafe. It was still a few hours away from 5, so I decided to visit the Nevada state capitol building, buy a birthday card for my dad at the CVS, and send it out at the post office. After doing all these chores, I went back to Bike Smith and bought the tire tube and the CO2 canister. Hopefully, I won't have to use them since I only have about ten days left of my journey to San Francisco.

Nevada state capitol

Statue inside the capitol

At the Comma Cafe, I ordered a smoothie and hung out for over an hour. Lior rode in on his bicycle around 5:30 PM. We chatted for quite a bit. Lior came from Israel and is an environmental engineer. He has traveled in southeast Asia. Since Lior had to pick up his car from the shop, I rode my bike to his house while he picked up his wife, Jenny, and met me at his place.

Lior made some dips for dinner and the three of us decided to go to a hot spring. I've never been to a hot spring before and I thought it would be some kind of a large pit in the ground. As it turned out, it was a swimming pool with water pumped into it from a hot spring. I enjoyed the warm water and chatted with a few people in the pool about my bicycle trip.

Lior showed me this house on our way to the hot spring. What happened? Lol!

After 9 PM, we came back home. Lior and Jenny allowed me to take a rest day at their home, so I'm staying in Carson City for another night.

This morning, I rode into town with Lior. While he rode to work I stopped by LA Bakery for a delicious chorizo omelette and some coffee. The library doesn't open until 10 AM. I went there anyway to just hang out for a bit. I texted David, the mountain biker I met when I was riding from Baker to Ely, about staying at his place in Gardnerville tomorrow. We've been in contact for awhile now and David is very kind to let me stay at his place. I also texted Bob, whom I had met at Eureka, Nevada, to see if we can meet up in Sacramento in a few days. He replied and said that I can stay with him for two nights in Sacramento. That'll be great since I'm ahead of my schedule. I would like to be in San Francisco on day 100.

A delicious breakfast at LA Bakery

Currently, I'm at the library. I will catch up on some reading and will meet Lior and Jenny for lunch before exploring more of Carson City later today.