Whoever named Cold Springs knew what they were doing. The collection of buildings known as Cold Springs sits on the west-facing slope of Desatoya Peak. So, as the sun rises, about the last thing in this area to get any direct sunshine in the morning is Cold Springs. So when it gets cold overnight in Cold Springs, it stays cold well into the morning. Sunrise was officially at 7:02 AM, but it wasn’t until about 8:30 AM that the sun peeked out from behind the mountains and started warming up Cold Springs RV Park and Campground.

I cycled over two summits today: New Pass Summit (elevation 6348 feet) and Mount Airy Summit (elevation 6679 feet). The former had a series of storm drains on the side. After I saw the first couple of drains go by, I realized they had the cross grates that made them safe to ride across (like the one shown on the left). So, I moved over onto the shoulder to be out of the lane of traffic. I rode across a couple more of them with no ill effects. Then, along comes a drain with the grates running in the direction of travel (see photo on the right). Before I could react and avoid (or bunny hop over) them, I ran over it. There was a large bump as my rear wheel dipped into it. I came across with “rubber side down” still and for a second I thought I had gotten very lucky. Then, I heard the hissing of air escaping from my tire. It was a pinch flat on the rear tire. Even worse, there was a small dent in my $400 rim that has carried me safely through nearly 9000 miles of The Dream Tour. Arghh!

Anyway, shame on you, Nevada! Shame on you for putting a dangerous storm drain like this on a route that is popular for cyclists and especially when all the others along this section of road are different (and safe to ride across).

After our arrival in Austin, we packed things up in the car for a drive back to Reno. We’re hoping to have time to have the car battery and AC clutch checked out and to make preparations for the event at the Renown Health and Wellness Programs on October 11.

On our drive back to Reno, we were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of a fairly large dust devil (in the left side of the photo on the right). I was able to get a picture of it, but by the time I was able to get the video camera pointed at it, it had dissipated.

Total distance:	49.67 miles
Time:	4:04:43
Average speed:	12.2 mph
Maximum speed:	28.5 mph
Total calories:	3292
Average heart rate:	117 bpm
Maximum heart rate:	157 bpm
Total ascent:	2450 feet
Total descent:	1511 feet
Ride profile:	(click on image to view a larger version)
Ride comments: We camped overnight at Cold Springs, and boy, was it cold! By 8:30 AM, the sun had peeked out from behind the mountains and it started warming up. The wind also started to blow. After our arrival in Austin, we packed things up in the car for a drive back to Reno. We’re hoping to have time to have the car battery and AC clutch checked out and to make preparations for the event at the Renown Health and Wellness Programs on October 11.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 10th, 2006 at 2:28 pm and is filed under The Dream Tour, Bicycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.