I am so hugely proud of my husband right now, and I must share! For many years, he used to ride his bike with some buddies from the California/Nevada state line in Lake Tahoe all the way across Nevada along Highway 50 to the Utah state line. The ride is 435 miles, and they would complete it in 4 days. Now that they’re all older, they are taking 5 days to do it.
Twelve years ago, I went with him as the support vehicle on this ride. I would wake up, hang out in an interesting town, deliver lunch to him on the road and then check into the hotel in the next town. When I checked into a hotel in Eureka, Nevada that day 12 years ago, the innkeepers took me aside to explain that my husband’s mother had called and that my then-boyfriend’s (We weren’t married yet) father had died.
The ride ended early, of course, and my husband was always disappointed that he never got to complete it. The next year we were married, and then children followed. My husband was a family man, and the ride was something he would talk about every year. He was never able to go for one reason or another.
Finally, this year, he’s back at it. Here is the photo he took at the Nevada state line in Lake Tahoe this morning. He is riding 94 miles today all the way to Fallon, NV, and I can’t wait to talk to him tonight and see how he’s doing.
I am just oozing with pride, because no matter what happens, he is my super hero. He set his sights on doing this ride again, and he’s doing it! Way to go, honey!!!
My song of the day is “Bicycle” by Queen, because what else could it possibly be? I am cheering along for the next 5 days. Go, honey, go!!!
**UPDATE*** – He just posted another photo. Heading up the mountain from Lake Tahoe. I love this picture with the lake in the background. Check it out.
**UPDATE** – My husband made it safely to Fallon, NV yesterday after completing 94 miles of riding. He said the last 10-15 miles were really difficult, but he did it! Today’s ride will be the shortest – 60 some miles. He’ll end up in Cold Springs, NV, and I’ll post an update later today when he arrives.
**UPDATE – 8/24 – 8:30 am: Leaving Fallon
**UPDATE** – 8/25 – 6:30 am: When my husband spoke about his ride last night, he explained that the amount of miles he was riding was not the challenge. Instead, it’s the difficulty of the summits that offers the challenges he said. As of now, he’s completed 154 miles. Summits or no summits – the miles sound like an awful lot to me! Regardless, he had a nice day yesterday.
Some highlights…
“Shoe Tree” There are several of these trees where people hang their shoes all over the country. He said it’s amazing…thousands of shoes with many that are so high up he has no idea how people possibly managed to get them up there.
Last night, my hubby stayed in Cold Springs Station. He said there are only 6 people who actually live in Cold Springs, and that they try really hard to make a nice place for travelers to stay. I don’t know…dead animals in the hotel lobby are not my personal idea of hospitality.
My husband’s only riding 50 some miles to Austin, NV today, but he said they summits will be challenging. Good luck, honey!!
**UPDATE** – 8/28/14 – 6:28 am – I haven’t updated this blog post in a couple of days, but today is the perfect day to bring you all up to speed. This is because today is the final day of my husband’s ride. In the last two days, he has biked over 7 summits and over 200 miles.
Today, after two more summits and over 70 miles of riding, he will finally breeze into Utah completing his trip. This has all been done on this bike seat:
Ouch!!! I must hand it to him….when my hubby wants something, he is relentless in getting it!
So, one last push and shove, and he is celebrating. Go, go, go!!!!!
