Day 7: Loose Nipples (Carson City, NV to Middlegate, NV - 109 miles)

After leaving Flynn's place in Carson City, we made our way onto Highway 50 to trek through Nevada. Our plan was to stop in Fallon for lunch, and then to camp in Middlegate, which is about halfway to Austin. The tough part about 50 is that there are only a few towns along the way throughout Nevada, so our stops need to be more planned out than before. We first stopped to get some snacks at a convenience store before leaving Carson City, and we both thought it was pretty funny that there were slot machines inside (I didn't want to take a picture and get dirty looks from the locals).

The majority of 50 is, well, lonely. Between Carson City and Fallon, the views really didn't change much.

We did spot some wild horses, though, which was pretty sweet.

The other things that caught our attention were some fighter jets flying over the Naval Air Station. Too bad we couldn't hitch a ride with them through Nevada in a couple of minutes.

We stopped in Fallon to grab some Subway, and a generous woman named Julie offered to pay for our lunch when she heard we were raising money for leukemia. Thanks, Julie! After lunch we started to leave town, when Pat noticed his rear wheel seemed to be wobbling. It didn't look noticeable, so we headed onward to Middlegate, another 48 miles away.

As we were riding down 50, Pat's rear wheel really started shaking. Great place to be stranded. We wouldn't be able to bike with the wheel as it was, and we had no way of replacing it in the middle of the road. The problem? The nipples on the spokes were so loose that the spokes weren't supporting the wheel, causing it to bend. We decided to call Sue from Truckee, since we thought she might know some people from bike stores in Fallon or Austin who could help us out. Unfortunately, there is only one bike store in Austin with a number online, and it was disconnected. Sue did offer to drive out the following day with a new wheel, if we were in a pinch. Luckily, it didn't come to that. Sue has been great to us these past few days, though, and we can't thank her enough. Pat called the guy who fixed up his bike back home, and he walked Pat through a quick way to true a wheel. It worked for the time being, and we made it the rest of the way to Middlegate in one piece.

Middlegate is a really unique place. Situated in literally the middle of nowhere, it's a town with a population of 17, with a bar and camping area. We had probably the most delicious burgers we've ever eaten, and met some other cross country cyclists. One of the riders, Greg, is a dentist in Illinois, and it was nice talking with him for a bit. Another one of the riders used to work in a bike shop, so he helped Pat true his wheel so that we can safely ride it the rest of the way. It was great meeting another coast to coast crew, and we hope they have a great trip on to DC.

All in all, today was a big day of riding. Not the most exciting, but we covered a lot of ground and had some interesting happenings. Hopefully tomorrow brings another fun day.