Craig Hamnett

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 →

My alarm was set for 5:30am, for some unbeknown reason I got up straight away and sprang into action. Maybe it was because I needed to poop – the first time (since I was a baby) that I’ve not pooped in a toilet. After that fairly uneventful stool, the majority of things were packed and I had my oats for breakfast. I burnt the bastards though so I’m going to have to give the Jetboil a good scrub later on.

After some blogging and reading some very nice comments on the past few blogs, (I really appreciate every single one) I left Elberta at 8:30 and was on my way to Delta. As I was leaving a guy came to spray some stuff on some nearby trees – it turns out there’s a little party here tomorrow (2nd July) to celebrate the 4th of July. Not sure what calendar the people of Elberta are using but it appears they can’t even get the frickin’ date right. Continue reading →

Clark, my room-mate, was up at 5am and out of the room half an hour later. I managed to mutter something resembling a goodbye and then resumed the comfortable fetal position and dreamed some more. I woke at 9:30 and had a shower before dragging my stuff to the common area.

After the last minute decision to switch routes, I now had to cobble together some sort of action plan. Having read this cyclists website I figured it was more than possible to go a more direct route, albeit through a hotter part of the desert. This next stint will require early mornings to avoid the worst of the heat. Continue reading →

I’m not joking, I did nothing too constructive today, not even take any photos. I was going to set off from Salt Lake until the bad weather hit late morning and was forecast to be even worse through the afternoon and evening. I’m not much for being stuck in hail and lightning storms.

Instead I looked at the route I was taking towards San Francisco, and decided to change it. I’ll now be taking Route 6 south towards Delta and then take Route 50 west to Carson City. The main reason being that the route Google suggested was void of main roads. I can’t take the risk of being broken down on a mountain with no cars passing any time soon.

Now I just have to prepare myself for crossing the “Loneliest Road” in the USA – Route 50. This will be a big test as the places to fill up water (let alone eat) can be up to 89 miles apart. Bring on the desert. And maybe some dessert at the end of it.

Write up to come soon, getting up late, going to a soccer game and a couple of bars. Take a look at the few photos on Facebook.

Write up to come soon, basically sightseeing and an impromptu night out with Redditors – Take a look at the Facebook gallery instead.