Day 3: Yosemite, CA to Tonopah, NV
Day 3 was a day of change. I was riding out of the Sierras and into the desert and my wife was going back home, meaning I was all on my own from here on out. No more security blanket in the car. From now on I was carrying all of my own food, all of my own drinks, and all of my own stuff. If I had a mechanical issue, I better hope it was something that I could fix on my own out on the road.
To be honest, worrying about a mechanical issue was the worst part of Petoji. I'm a relatively handy guy when it comes to bikes (yet terrible around the house). I do almost all of my own work. The one thing I don't do is build my own wheels. If anything minor happened to my bike, I could fix it. However, there are some things you just can't fix out there on the road. What if my frame cracked? What if one of my shifters broke? I designed Petoji to avoid any major cities. I wanted it to be somewhat off of the beaten path. That's a great thing when you're out there riding, but it's not so great if you need access to a bike shop. I'm not one to worry all that much, but this was always somewhere in the back of my mind. How terrible would it be to not finish because of a mechanical issue? I did my best to avoid any issues. Most of my drivetrain was new or close to new and I was riding new tires and new brake pads. My wheels were relatively new. I went through and rechecked all of the torque settings on my stem, seatpost clamp, etc. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. That's all you can do.
Back to the ride. Day 3 was somewhat long, but a lot of it was downhill. I wasn't expecting it to be too bad. I woke up early, ate a little breakfast, and my wife dropped me off where I finshed the night before. I still had a few extra miles to make up for, but I was feeling better than yesterday both physically and mentally. I did the beautiful Tioga Pass descent out of Yosemite down to 395. That's where my wife met me to say our goodbyes.
It's amazing how quickly things can change. As soon as you hit 395 it's like you're in a different world. You can see the Sierra Nevada mountains off to the right, but they seem so far away. Off to your left is miles and miles of desert. That part felt like home to me. I live in Reno, so I've done a lot of riding in the desert. At this point in Petoji it didn't feel like I was riding across the country yet. It felt like I took a long weekend trip out to the Bay Area and was riding back home.
There was a short section on 395 (plenty of shoulder) and then I made a left turn onto 120. I had never ridden that section of 120 before. Now I'm left to wonder why not. It's a beautiful section of road and there was hardly any traffic at all out there. It was a fun road- up and down without any major climbs. I will definitely be out there again at some point next summer.
120 ends and meets 6, which takes you to Nevada. They call US 50 in Nevada the loneliest road in America, but a lot of people say that 6 is actually lonelier. I have driven both and would have to agree. There's really nothing but desert until Tonopah, which is exactly what I love. After Day 2's mess I was carrying plenty of water and had a great time.
My legs felt good for the first 110 miles or so, but I ran out of gas after that. The road was flat for about the final 40 miles, but I just couldn't maintain a decent speed. I didn't think much of it at the time. The first two days covered challenging terrain and I probably needed a few days to recover from Day 2's nutritional mistakes. Day 4 was a short one at 109 miles without much climbing. I expected an easy recovery day on Day 4.
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| Yosemite |
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| Yosemite |
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| Yosemite |
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| Leaving Yosemite | | | |
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Leaving Yosemite
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| Leaving Yosemite |
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| Heading south on 395 |
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| Heading south on 395 |
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| Heading south on 395 |
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| CA 120 |
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| CA 120 |
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| CA 120 |
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| CA 120 |
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| CA 120 |
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| CA 120 |
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| Welcome to Nevada |
