Day 35: Hartsell to Salida - 52 miles

Another cold night, but then I was at about 9,500' so it was to be expected. At least I was prepared this time, wearing my thermal underwear and my down jacket. For a change I wasn't woken up by the cold, but I was woken up by howling of coyotes during the night. They sounded quite close and elicited a response from the neighbourhood dogs. Perhaps that was their intent ...

I wanted to have an early start so I was up by 07:00 and completed packing my gear by 07:30. I went to the cafe for breakfast and it was most disappointing. Both the pancake and the bagel were burned, and the hot chocolate was very forgettable. I went up the road to the Conoco petrol station and had a sweet roll. It was then on the road by 08:30 heading south.

It was a beautiful, but cold, morning. the temperature was about 6 degrees and there was a clear blue sky and no wind. Because of the temperature the cycling was very brisk and I wore several layers. Glad it wasn't raining or there would have been a frozen statue of a cylist next to the road...

There was no traffic about even though I was on a main route for the first few miles. I then turned off onto County Road 53 which was unsealed and would take me most of the way to my destination. The road was in excellent condition and the gradient quite gradual so with the absence of wind it was a pleasure to cycle. The only negative element was the terrain; more of the empty desert area with scrub, sand and not much more. The photo below is an example of the exciting terrain.

 

dsc00339.jpg (173114 bytes)
 

After about 35 miles things got interesting as I began climbing towards the watershed crossing at about 10,200'. I cycled through subalpine forest of aspens, pines and other trees. A nice change from the rest of the day. There was some up and down terrain and then I was presented with a delightful downhill run into the valley below. The road circled the edge of the valley giving spectacular views of the valley below.

 

dsc00341.jpg (172742 bytes)
dsc00342.jpg (178516 bytes)
 

It was a fantastic downhill run where I lost about 2,500' in the space of six miles. As I descended the valley walls closed in which made for a neat experience. I was able to maintain a good speed and the absence of traffic meant that I could zoom down the winding road with (realtive) abandon.

 

dsc00343.jpg (174056 bytes)
 

As I exited the valley towards Salida I was hit with a very heavy headwind. Glad that I had been protected by the hills, it would have been such a shame to have such a downhill run impeded by wind as happened when coming down towards Silverdale.

I stopped at the first motel I came to and checked in. Shortly afterwards Lis rang to say she was still in Los Angeles, having missed her flight due to a late departure of her Qantas flight and delays at immigration and customs. This really messes up our plans for the next few days. I went and had a great lunch to work out options. When the waitress brought my food she said "Are you going to eat all this?". I said just you watch and enjoyed every mouthful. It's going to be hard to go back to normal eating habits after this trip.

An evening of TV and e-mail awaits but hopefully tomorrow morning Lis will arrive and we will pick up where our plans were interrupted.

On to the next week ...

 
loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loans loansloans loans loans loans loans loans loans insurance insurance mortgage mortgage