Team 12 assisting Humane Society (Incline Village Nevada)

Team 12 has officially biked through two states as we left Nevada behind. After riding out of the Sierra Nevadas and Lake Tahoe, we arrived in Carson City, our first stop within the state. After a short drive, we returned to Lake Tahoe for a much-needed rest day. While in Incline Village, we hosted a fundraising event at Craft and Lodging Tap Room and assisted with flower work for the Humane Society. This period of rest and relaxation allowed us to prepare for the longest stretch of continuous cycling on the entire trip—nine consecutive days of cycling across Nevada, a challenge we were eager to undertake.

Middlegate Nevada population count (Middlegate Nevada)

Team 12 relaxing at Spencer Hot Spring (Austin Nevada)

The ride from Carson City to Fallon was our first experience along Highway 50, the Loneliest Highway. We were warmly greeted and fed by Epworth United Methodist Church for the night. The team was able to rest nicely with a roof over our heads after the first of many long, hot, sunny days in Nevada. The next morning, after an amazing breakfast, we rode out for Middlegate. After a quick dinner at the junction and viewing flyovers by the local airbase, we relocated to Cold Springs for housing. This also marked the beginning of an infestation of Mormon crickets along the road, a sight we would endure for the rest of the state.

After leaving Cold Springs, we rode to Austin, where we camped at a local campsite. After exploring the quaint town, we headed to a local hot spring about 25 minutes down a dirt road. Even on the dirt road, we were accompanied by the endless amounts of crickets crunching under our tires. The spring was boiling hot, but we still managed to relax in the already sweltering weather. From Austin, we rode to Eureka and stayed at Diamond Valley Church, centered in the farmland outside of town. The scenery was breathtaking, with mountains surrounding us in every direction in the valley. We also experienced the best view of the stars on the trip so far, making it a night to remember.

The next morning, we departed for Ely, starting from the local grocery store. This ride was particularly challenging due to a very draining headwind throughout. The reward, however, was the descents after every long climb on this ride. The ride to Ely was the longest of the trip so far, stretching 78 miles. Our motivation was the anticipation of a McDonald’s meal, which kept us powering through. Once we finally made it to Ely, we stayed at Bayside Church and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and recovering from the grueling ride.

From Ely, we rode to Baker located dead center of the Great Basin National Park. While there we realized how close our next state of Utah is with it being just over the mountain range. We stayed at Baker Community Church, and met any members of the small town. We got to eat at Sugar, Salt & Malt for dinner had had arguably some of the best food on the trip so far with their burgers. For the start of Utah we stay at Delta Highschool for 2 nights, breaking up the 110-mile stretch. We are pumped to be 2 states down and onto our 3rd. We are finally getting into the groove of it all both physically and as a functioning team. Team 12 is still very fresh into this journey and we have lots more to go.