Nevada

We crossed into Nevada just after Death Valley Junction. It was a pleasant desert road, which climbed up and over a small pass to Pahrump. We found the first Wal Mart supermarket of the trip and ate a roast chicken each! Back in the desert, we cycled along a dual carriageway for the afternoon and started climbing the final pass before Las Vegas. Was a good climb, we listened to Blackadder for a bit using Harry's speakers. We cycled into the the night and climbed to about 5,000 ft where there was a layer of snow on the ground. We found a low tunnel under the road which was amazingly warm compared to outside. It felt like a heater was on in there! We cooked lying down looking forward to Vegas the next day.

It was an eventful night! Harry went out for a pee at about 2 am and climbed up onto the bridge to look ar the stars. For some reason he fainted and fell about 2 metres. He bashed his leg, arm and more worrying, his head. I heard him cursing when he came back round, obviously in pain. We don't think he was unconscious for long though. He was bleeding a lot and shivering in the cold. I helped him back into the tunnel then cleaned and bandaged the head wound. It wasn't bleeding badly and we decided to see how it was in the morning.
Harry could ride OK when we got moving in the morning so we rode down to Vegas. We saw other cyclists coming up the hill as we descended in the snow. Vegas loomed ahead of us, a huge city in the desert! It felt great to arrive here on bikes. We cycled up Las Vegas Boulevard aka "The Strip". The massive and hugely impressive hotels flashed past, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, New York New York, MGM Grand, Venetian, Bellagio, Paris, Ceasar's Palace, The Stratosphere and loads more. We found a cheap motel near the Stratosphere and had a relax before heading out.

We looked round the casinos on the strip, saw Flamingos at the Flamingo casino and Lions at the MGM. We saw someone screaming with delight after winning a jackpot on a slot machine and old lady gambling addicts feeding coin after coin into them. Poker players, roulette, black jack and other games I don't know. There's fantastic theming all over Vegas, a replica Manhattan skyline, a replica Eiffel Tower and the amazing Bellagio fountain water music show.

In the evening, we went to downtown Vegas, where we went to town on a buffet, then tried our luck on the casino floor. We started with 20 dollars to gamble with and played Roulette. We got up to 30 and a couple of free drinks then tried Black Jack. Not a good move, lost 21 dollars and down to 9. Back to Roulette we eventually got up to 35 dollars and lost a bit. We left on 26 dollars, 3 dollars each winnings, but better to have beaten Sin City and not lost any money!

The next day we chilled out in the morning then left the city, not much to report. That night we slept in a drainage channel under a bridge, really clean and an easy place to stay.

The following morning we joined a bike trail to Lake Mead via Boulder City. Was a great ride. It weaved up and down hills and into a storm drainage channel that was great fun because it was like a halfpipe. We reached Lake Mead then descended all the way to the Hoover Dam. We cycled onto it. It was seriously impressive, massive! We spoke to a lady who works there, she told us that 95 people died building the dam. Apparently there's also a big problem with suicides there and as it is on the state border, depending on where they jump, either the Nevada or Arizona police have to come to sort it out.

We climbed back up to the main road and onto the new bridge they've built which orders an amazing aerial view of the dam. We crossed it, having to lift the bikes over barriers and reaches Arizona. We were only in Nevada for 3 days but it had been brilliant. Vegas and the Hoover Dam within a day of each other, the US has been great so far.

California

A new continent! I was really excited to be on the road again and Harry was very enthusiastic about starting. We left the "Backpacker's Hostel" and cycled through San Francisco. We went via Fisherman's Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge.

From there we headed south down Highway 1, the fantastic Pacific Coast highway. We passed Pacific and cycled up and down with breathtaking views of the perfect beaches on the way. We arrived at Half Moon Bay for lunch then headed inland. We climbed a hill, then whizzed down, Harry almost hit a fawn that invading of him. We cycled round a lovely lake then camped behind some trees near the freeway.

I had peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast, something I'd really missed for the last half year! We cycled downhill to Woodside, then over the Dumbarton Bridge, which took us to the other side of San Francisco Bay. Found a bike shop, I bought a new pump, harry pimped his ride with a horn and a squeeking tortoise. Found a campsite on the bend of a road, very dry ground, so different from the coast.

Next day we entered desert, cycled over some small hills and met a couple of Swedish guys who'd cycled from New York. Over the hills was a totally flat plain. We followed some small roads around farmland and reached a deadend at the interstate. We had to lift our bikes on and rode along it for a few miles. 10 minutes into our motorway adventure, the police came and chucked us off. The next junction took us to Manteca anyway, which was where we planned to get to for lunch. We reached Yosemite Avenue, the road we'd follow for the next couple of days all the way to Yosemite National Park. We found a nice deserted woodland that evening to camp in.

We woke at sunrise and I cooked bacon butties for breakfast. Someone was shooting in the woods so we made a quick getaway and started climbing into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Great riding, fantastic road over lots of small hills. We stopped at a motel with "girls girls girls" advertised to fill our water bottles up! A lovely old lady gave us soup. Her sons, tough looking guys covered in tatoos talked to us - really nice gentle people who respected the UK because "you guys have sensible sized cars"! After lunch we climbed Old Priest Grade. The steepest hill of my trip so far. It was very difficult! I set myself the challenge of climbing it without stopping. I made it up feeling great, it was tough but I managed yo get up in one go. I doubt I'll ever be as fit as this again! We talked to a guy on a Harley, "it's downhill all the way to Yosemite from here boys", 3,000 ft of climbing later, the next day we arrived at Yosemite! That night we camped in a campsite that was closed for the season. Beautiful forest. We were worried about the bears so we put all our food in a bear locker and camped away from it.

Woke up wet because of condensation in tent. Harry went for a wild number 2 and started a forest fire while burning the paper! We ran back and forwards to the tap with our water bottles and managed to put it out, lesson learned me thinks! We spent most of the morning climbing through beautiful forest, I saw a cafe where I ate with my friend Ed when we came here a few years ago on a road trip.

We entered Yosemite around lunchtime and spoke to the ranger at the park entrance. Tioga Pass, the 10,000 ft higheat park of the road going through the pass was still open, we were worried it may be closed ny now due to snow, great stuff. We somehow managed to buy 24 Clif energy bars for 7 dollars, delicious. The ranger told us the campsites were all shut on Tioga Pass road and we weren't allowed to wild camp. We assured him we'd get the 67 miles uphill done that afternoon and wouldn't wild camp. After an amazing ride through the forest and past the unbelievable cathedral like cliffs we found a fantastic wild camp site. We hung our food in a tree to keep it safe from bears, imaging them trying to reach it by standing on each other's backs! We slept outside under amazing stars on a smooth rock formation.

Happy Halloween! Woke up to an amazing view and walked up to the peak of the rock formation to see the sunrise. We ate breakfast up there after retrieving our bag. It was a spectacular morning ride through the forest, around the cathedral peaks and past a beautiful mirror like lake. We saw Elk running through the trees but unfortunately no bears.

We climbed the last 1000 feet to Tioga pass in the early afternoon. It was fantastic, Yosemite was one of the highlights of the entire trip for me. The descent from the pass was brilliant too! It hugged the side of the mountain and was steep enough to build up some serious speed. We passed 2 beautiful lakes and I got up to 51.5 mph, a new trip record! We descended to Lee Vining, a cool little place in the middle of nowhere with a massively overpriced shop and a big lake. We passed through and started heading south towards Death Valley. This morning we were in amazing forest scenery, this evening we are in the desert. Amazing contrast! Great campsite that night, amazing shooting stars and big fire. No tents again.

We woke up the next morning with frost on that sleeping bags. We got going, over a small pass then started a long downhill where we lost over 3,000 feet. I got another new top speed of 53.9 mph. I looked back when I got to the bottom and Harry wasn't there. Turned our he'd got a puncture. In the meantime I had a conversation with two really nice women, Diana and Tabatha. I told them what we were doing then they went back to see if Harry was OK.

That night was bloody brilliant! We found some hot springs. There was a. Series of pools at bath temperatures which we swam in for ages in the dark. We washed all our clothes. It was fantastic to get clean and really warm, until we got out onto the freezing night air that was!

 

Woke up with a fantastic sunrise over the mountains. Harry was feeling ill, he had a migrane coming on. When he felt better we left, while he was resting I had a morning swim in the hot springs. The desert was amazing as we cycled to Lone Pine. We saw Mt Whitney, the highest peak on continental USA and lots of snow capped peaks. At Lone Pine we stocked up on food and water for Death Valley before climbing up past Owen's Lake and finding a dry river bed to sleep in for the night. My culinary camping skills reached a new level, I cooked delicious (although I say it myself) fajitas while Harry built a massive fire. Harry had downloaded Blackadder onto his phone, which we listened to. Lord Flasheart is fantastic.

The next morning we climbed a 5200 ft pass into Death Valley National Park. Fantastic descent to Panamint Springs, where we stopped at the cafe there for lunch. We left on a dead straight road that looked to curve up into mountains about 2 miles away. 15 miles later we reached them! The horizon takes a lot longer to reach in the desert. Harry raced up the climb and I could see he was really getting into it now and getting fitter. I couldn't keep up with my extra weight so we met at the top. I had to stop halfway up for a peanut butter calarie boost.

Another fantastic descent took us into the next valley along, the main valley of the national park, containing Badwater, the lowest point in the USA. We camped at Stovepipe Wells that night with a Lithuanian couple who were driving around the country having won US citizenship in a prize draw and a Dutch couple on a motorbike tour of the USA national parks. We shared a campsite and some crisps and beers and talked about our trips.

Bacon butties got us going the next morning and we needed the energy to fight one of the strongest headwinds I've had on the trip. We took it in turns to ride at the front and made a mile at a time. There were beautiful views, sand dunes, canyons and mountains before we reached the park HQ at Furnace Creek. We got some food there, then climbed another pass out of Death Valley. We camped in an old abandoned campsite. The next day we cycled to Death Valley Junction then to the Nevada border. The end of California, Vegas in 1 1/2 days though, can't wait!

California was just awesome. San Francisco has to be one of the best cities in the world, after that the amazing Pacific Coast, Yosemite then Death Valley had made for 10 days of the most stunning and varied riding imaginable. Where else in the world could you find that mixture of world class places to visit? To be able to cycle between them is amazing. Anyone got a spare 2 week holiday? Fly to San Francisco, cycle this route in Spring or Autumn and fly back from Las Vegas. Would be one of the best holidays ever!