Day Seventy-Two - Final Ascent.

My alarm went off the same time as usual, but somehow I managed to fritter away three hours before finally getting on the road. I was pleased to see that my puncture repair hadn't gone down overnight, though I was paranoid that it was going down. When me and all my stuff are on it, the tire can look a bit flat at a glance, even though it isn't.

The first part of my ride went fairly quickly. I made it to a town called Genoa in the length of one album, and then the Nevada/California border in the length of the next one. It was all either flat or very slightly upill, which made it easy going. The wind hadn't picked up yet either. Once I'd crossed the border, no sooner than about 300m had passed before I was in my lowest gear on the side of a mountain. That was to be the way the rest of the day would be, though I didn't know this yet.

I stopped at Woodfords for a break, where I had planned to stop at before plans changed. It had an extortionate sandwich bar attached to it, leaving me little choice but to have a liquid/Hersheys based lunch. The owner of the shop was a bit of a busybody too. She asked me literally a couple of minutes after I bought my first round of drinks if I'd paid for them, and also told this mother and son (a son aged about 5 I might add) that he could have no part in the scratching process of a scratchcard. Please, it wasn't as if he was going to try and claim it if it won..

Anyway, I set back off again and discovered that there was a bike event going on up the same route I was going. I felt very conspicuous amongst all these riders in their sponsored jerseys and carbon fibre bikes, with me and my fully loaded bike. I felt a lot like those people that run the marathon dressed as something ridiculous. I'm pleased to say I held my own though, even overtaking a couple of people. Of course, the majority overtook me, but I didn't mind that after the first 100. It was 15 miles to the top of Carson Pass, and it took me about 2 hours 45 to do. It may well have taken me longer, but the other cyclists around and people supporting at the side provided a welcome distraction. By the time I'd reached the top, it was around 4pm, and I had planned to to a further 25 miles. The weather was closing in very fast though, and I was grateful to make it to Kirkwood before the heavens opened. I decided that it would be better to stay here since tomorrow would have been short anyway, and because of the rain. I chatted to a guy called Forest for a bit, and to cut a long story short, is enquiring about me staying at his Parents house in Sacremento, apparently it backs on to the bike route I'm going on. It would make for a long day tomorrow, but i've got loads of down so it might not be too bad. I'm waiting to hear back though.

I went to the only hotel here, which I knew would be expensive. Even after my 20% discount it came to $108. For that I get an apartment/condo type thing. They told me up front that the Cable didn't work, and that I could have a go at fixing it if I wanted. I think this place has been bought by someone, and they lease it put through the hotel. I opted for the DVD option, but still gave fixing it a go. I spent hours trying to fix it, so much so that I didn't leave myself enough time to watch one of the DVD's I got. I eventually went out for a meal, and now I'm back.

A I said, not sure where I'm going tomorrow, but it's definitely downhill. :)