Craig Hamnett

The morning in Austin started out hot enough to make me vacate my tent by 9. To say it was hot is a massive understatement, hiding in the shade was the only thing keeping me from melting. There was a pool next to the site but it was fenced off and it was too much like hard work to climb it.

As a group, we sat around the picnic table and decided to plan out the next few days in advance. This was to try and find some Warm Showers and give them some advance notice. One of the few downsides to riding in a group is that people are less likely to put you up for the simple fact that it becomes too much of a burden. We finally had about three days planned out. Joe said the exact same thing I was thinking; this was the most planning I’d ever done this trip. Continue reading →

Another day, another puncture. It’s a good job I have lots of patches, I feel as though I’m a puncture repair expert now. I do check every part of the tyre when I’m repairing the puncture, it’s not a reoccurring problem; it’s a new thorn or piece of metal. Every, single, fricking, time. It’s getting to the point where I’m getting impatient with the bike. Maybe it’s someone close by, this has only started happening since I’ve been riding with the group. I shall keep my eye out for any saboteurs.

The town of Eureka was compact but well equipped, not explicitly for cyclists though (no bike shops). The gas stations air pump broke as I was pumping up my front tyre. That meant I had to hand pump the rear tyre, something which I dread doing. It takes about 15 minutes of frantic pumping and I can only manage to squeeze about 60PSI into it. Ideally that figure needs to be closer to 80 to make the ride a little easier, especially with the impending hills later today. Continue reading →

I thought the tyre felt a little flat the previous night. As it turns out, it was a slow leak that had completely flattened the tyre by the morning. Whilst fixing the tyre and finding a minuscule thorn, someone from above decided to throw a bucket of water off their balcony: completely soaking Han’s bike. Luckily, all the important stuff was in waterproof bags and minimal damage was done.

We set off and rode the short ride through Ely. As soon as we hit the edge of town the rain began to fall for the second day in a row. I was sure Nevada was going to be hot, dry and unbearable; how wrong I was. Continue reading →

My plan was to getaway at midnight so I could get in a good 9 hours of riding, half being in the dark. That plan didn’t come to fruition and instead I left the comfortable motel at 6am.

So after a super long stint of one night ride I was back to day riding. As it turned out, it wasn’t an unbearable thing as the temperature had dropped to a much more comfortable level than the past two days living too close to the sun. Continue reading →

The people of Delta somehow knew I was leaving this evening and they ever so kindly let off a metric butt-ton of spectacular fireworks. They obviously knew that what I was about to attempt was challenging, gruelling and mentally demanding so they gave me an appropriate send off.

As it turns out the folks of Delta didn’t give a shit about riders risking their lives – instead they just wanted to celebrate their independence and freedom. Again on the wrong date but hey ho. I do chuckle to myself when an American mentions that they enjoy their freedom. We are anything but free. The closest we come to freedom is when we have utter disregard for stupid laws and have the good fortune to simply not get caught. End of freedom rant and back to riding… Continue reading →

Last nights decision to switch back to night riding soon proved to be a sensible and wise decision. The heat today was so sticky and uncomfortable from 8am.

I spent a couple of hours in McDonalds before cycling around the small town of Delta for a proper place to eat with electricity – my laptop was running low. As it turns out restaurants don’t have many plug sockets. Continue reading →