We knew it was going to be cold when we woke up, it was 23 degrees worth of cold! After packing up and filling our Starbucks mugs with hot coffee we immediately started a 4 1/2 mile climb that had a 6 percent grade. I just had to biig on my back gear and small on my front gear and spin my way up. It's during a climb like this where you think about every single thing I have packed on my bike and in my B.O.B. bag. I decided that what I had I needed.The ride down was fast and super freezing. At the bottom we met Lee from New Zealand. He was cycling to Denver. He shared with us his experience from San Francisco till our meeting. He warned of the headwinds to come. We wished him well and headed to Ely for McDonalds and warmer socks and gloves.
After lunch and purchasing warmer socks and gloves we headed to Illipah Resevoir to camp. We knew with the climbs ahead of us and the wind there was no way possible to make it to Eureka as planned. The rest of the ride was beautiful and challenging. Finally at 6pm we arrived at Illipah. We had a mile and half ride on a dirt road to our campsite, it was awesome. We set our tents up out of the wind and enjoyed a nice rice dinner. We worked quick because night and a low of 20 degrees was coming.
This was a tough night! Not much sleep, couldn't get comfortable. At 2am I got up to make some hot chocolate, the propane would barely burn. While up I noticed our water bottles were frozen.
I got them and put them in my sleeping bag. Over the next 3 hours they thawed out. At 5:30 am when it was getting light I saw the ice crystles inside my tent, not much motivation for getting out of my warm sleeping bag (thanks Kevin!).
I finally got up and boiled up some water for oatmeal. I had to warm the propane tank with my hands so it would burn, I'm not a fan of these super cold temps! After packing up it was time to start Day 4.
STATS - Mileage Today: 66, Pace: 8.3Riding Time: 7:55
Total GTD.A cumulative miles: 251
