Ending on a high note (Frisco Pass)

---

Day 10 (day 9 of actual riding, for all intensive
purposes I don’t think Day 1 counts as a full day,
maybe half a day)
Ely, NV to Baker, NV
Total Miles: 63.4 (673.2mi to day)

I calculated a rough estimate of our daily mileage,
looks like we’re averaging about 75 miles a day, right
on track. In hopes of finding a library and a place
to eat breakfast in Ely, we got another late start
(things in Ely don’t open early in the morning,
probably to recover from the events of the previous
evening). We got on our bikes around 10 and happily
left Ely only to begin riding into terrible headwinds,
probably the worse to date. Motivation is key to
combat headwinds and multiple mountain passes - “why
are we doing this anyway, it’s hard and our legs hurt”
thoughts like this often pass through our minds - it
can be tough staring at the continuous white line for
8 hours a day. The end of the day, however, brings
great reward (as do the views and the descents). We
passed Nevada’s only glacier in Great Basin National
Park - looks like another National Park worth
exploring. It’s unfortunate that we have to spend so
much time on the literal beaten path due to the nature
of our bikes, it would be cool to explore some of
these places (the thought of a 30 mile detour isn’t
exactly appealing after 70 some miles of riding).
We arrived in the small town of Baker and were
initially unimpressed. Everything looked closed …
right as we were about to exit town we reached the
Electrolux Café. This trip is all about the gems you
find in the middle of nowhere. Fantastic food (the
homemade hummus is to die for), beautiful photography
(by Terry, the owner) all over the walls, good wine
and beer, fantastic brownies, a place to sleep behind
the café, this was a welcomed sight in comparison to
the rest of baker. One of the best parts about this
trip is how good it makes everything that happens off
the bike (food, sleep, etc.). We thought we might
take a night ride in the moonlight to break up some of
tomorrow’s long haul to the next services - this idea
was quickly discarded when after dinner lethargy set
in. Hopefully the rattlesnakes won’t bother us here
in “Snake Valley” (we saw quite a few on our way in).

---