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Bought Eastern Sierra Transit tickets, made motel reservations for remaining 3 weeks in Reno, night in Bishop, night in Ridgecrest.
Eastern Sierra Transit bus to Bishop ($47). $96 at Motel6.
Starting odometer 28104. Eastern Sierra Transit bus to Inyokern ($25). $64 through booking.com at A Night's Inn. 2 bladders leaking slowly, 2 okay, 1 spare. Order new bladders in Blythe.
Sunny and mild. Camped south of Red Mountain, west of Hwy 395.
Thanksgiving holiday. Continued beautiful weather.
Noise from motorcycles and dune buggies all day.
Much less noise from motorcycles.
$55 at Motel6 in Barstow.
Started day with 22L in bladders, 6 loaves bread and cheese, 3 lbs peanuts, 7 bars dark chocolate. Beautiful weather. Moderate east headwind in morning, turned to moderate northwest tailwind in afternoon. Camped along Boron mine road, just east of Hector road.
Picked up a mess of goathead thorns on both tires in Barstow, maybe blown into road from weedy lot. Some air leakage from front tire upin removing a particularly large thorn, but sealant sealed the leak and so was able to continue without even needing to pump tire back up to full pressure.
Skipped morning exercises, other than pushups and rowing. Added pressure to front tire, since it was under inflated from goathead thorn leak of yesterday. Bought 5L water in Ludlow. Route 66 closed between Ludlow and Amboy due to road work. Ignored signs and walked bicycle off road to get past road work. Camped a few miles west of Chambless.
Skipped morning exercises again, other than pushups and rowing. Moderate northwest tailwind. Camped just before Milligan Mine.
Camped along Midland-Rice road, first wash with trees.
While speeding downhill towards Midland, front tire slammed into rocks, and resulting extreme air pressure inside tire burst open old patch, opening hole too large to be sealed by sealant. Upon dismounting tire, inside was covered with spilled sealant. Washed off sealant with water then carefully inspected tire for damage. Removed numerous thorn fragments plus one short piece of wire. Otherwise, tire and rim liner both in good condition. Hole in tube was close beside old patch, so new patch would have to overlap old patch to work, which is formula for problems. Decided to replace tube with one of two spare tubes in repair kit. Filled new tube with sealant, remounted tire, pumped both front and rear tires up to paved road pressure (50psi).
Speeding downhill is exhilarating but foolishly dangerous. Need to remember that I only have one bicycle with a limited supply of spare parts in my repair kit. I also only have one body and the same recklessness that could result in damage to the bicycle could also lead to bodily injury. Worst comes to worst, bicycle and all gear can be replaced for under $10K. Whereas a trip to the emergency room to deal with bodily injury could cost $100K.
After finishing with tires, cleaned and lubed chain. One of two brand new bottles of sealant, still inside factory plastic wrapper, was half empty. Same problem as several years ago. Namely, top was not screwed on properly at factory, so lube leaked out into saddle bag. (Silicone lube, so not much mess.) Next time, remove factory plastic wrapper immediately after purchase and confirm top screwed on tightly. Fortunately, another lube bottle is 100% full, so should have enough lube for remainder of tour.
Camped at my favorite spot from last year.
$123 for 2 nights at Motel6 in Blythe. Had to take handicapped room as other non-smoking rooms sold out.
Ordered new bladders to replace the 2 that are leaking, to be delivered to motel next Monday. Reserved motel room as well.
(Bicycle computer didn't activate initially, actual distance/time same as Sunday.)
Mild weather, so decided to fast, starting today and lasting for 5 days until Sunday morning. Only carrying water, no food.
50 instead of 100 jump squats, otherwise morning exercises as usual. Feeling lazy, with occasional thighs of food.
Morning exercises as usual. Felt weak afterwards. Moved campsite about 3/4 mile north, to get away from sound of diesel engine near date palms, perhaps powering water pump.
REI shipment delivered today, versus originally scheduled Monday delivery.
Same as Wednesday, only 50 squat jumps, otherwise morning exercises as usual. Felt tired afterwards.
Disrupted sleep, occasional stomach pangs and constant thoughts of food. But able to perform morning exercises as normal. Did a 6 day fast this past July in Argentina, 7 day fast in Serbia in June 2024 and other 7 day fasts before that, but don't remember as much hunger on day 5 of these previous fasts. (There was similar hunger on day 7 in Serbia, according to my notes from then.) Maybe my body was still building leg muscles after long ride from Ridgecrest, so already slightly protein deficient before starting fast. No bowel movement since Monday. Urine is light colored, because drinking whenever thirsty. Henceforth, one 5 day fast per year each winter should be sufficient to rejuvenate body without risk of muscle loss and without too much unpleasantness.
Felt less tired in morning than previous mornings. Again, only 50 squat jumps, otherwise morning exercises as usual. No difficulty with 12 pullups and 25 hanging bent knee raises at park in town. Big feast immediately afterwards. Felt much more energetic as food digested and filled my bloodstream with glucose and protein. Big bowel movement at motel, first since Monday. Body didn't hold onto waste like that during fast this past summer or the summer before, though it did during initial fast 10 or so years ago.
$157 for 3 nights at Motel6 in Blythe. Picked up 2 new bladders ordered from REI.
12 chinups, so still strong after regaining 10lbs of water/glycogen and other temporary weight loss.
12 pullups but last rep weaker than before fast.
12 pullups but last rep weaker than before fast.
Camped at usual spot.
12 chinups without difficulty. $205 for 4 nights at Motel6 in Blythe.
12 pullups, difficulty on last rep.
13 chinups, with difficulty on last rep.
12 pullups without difficulty. Bought food for next 4 days.
Christmas holiday. Clear and sunny but ground very damp from yesterday's rain.
$255 for 4 nights at Motel6 in Blythe.
(Bicycle computer failed to activate initially, so mileage and time off slightly.) $174 for 3 nights at Motel6.
Strong north wind. Colder than usual at night, near freezing.
Wind gone in morning. Sunny and not as cool as yesterday.
Someone managed to get my BofA credit card number and tried using with Google. BofA notified me of suspicious activity and I confirmed transactions were fraudulent, after which BofA canceled the card and scheduled a new one to be sent to my Reno mailing address, which of course I can't receive until returning to Reno. My mistake not to keep card locked except for a few minutes while making purchases.
Another mistake was not opening another bank account and credit card card like I planned to do this winter. My thinking was that I didn't want to further complicate my already complicated financial life. Unfortunately, unreliability of banks and consequent need for multiple backup payment methods means complicated financial life is unavoidable.
$116 for 2 nights at Motel6.
Leave town with 6 days food (7 days peanuts and chocolate), 23L water. Moderate north headwind. Warm and sunny, so probably need to buy water in Ludlow.
Skipped morning exercises other than pushups. Strong northwest headwind in morning, moderate in late afternoon. Warm and sunny.
Skipped morning exercises other than pushups. West headwind. Continued warm and sunny.
Skipped morning exercises other than pushups. More west headwind. Warm and sunny again.
Very strong wind from northwest, which would be headwind if bicycling, so decided to hibernate despite continued sunny and warm conditions. Typically inaccurate Accuweather forecast shows mild northwest wind today, switching to northeast tomorrow and east on Wednesday. Skipped all morning exercises. Wind finally died down in late afternoon. Headache in evening, hot feeling in stomach so that I had to push quilt away, some sneezing. Possible I was coming down with an illness these past few days and it finally peaked today, which is real reason I was quick to decide on hibernation.
Feeling back to normal in morning. Did morning exercises for first time since Thursday, except only 50 squat jumps rather than usual 100. Wind not too bad once descended to highway. Perhaps due to higher elevation, yesterday's campsite is evidently located in some sort of wind funnel. Much cooler than a few days ago, so wore shirt while riding for a change. Bought 2L water and 2 triple cheeseburgers in Ludlow. Negligible wind at today's campsite, plus far from railroad plus no diesel engines chugging uphill: welcome change from past two nights.
Did usual morning exercises, other than rowing. CR2032 battery in bicycle computer died. Replaced with spare in repair kit. No more spares, so need to replenish. Very little wind or maybe slight tailwind. Overcast and cool again, so again wore shirt while riding. $208 for 4 nights at Motel6 in Barstow.
Asked Raytheon to send retirement package. Made bus and motel reservations for trip to Reno. Asked Axos to send debit card.
Started with 4 days food, 5 days peanuts and chocolate.
$240 for 4 nights at A Night's Inn in Ridgecrest, telephone reservation this morning. Decided to postpone tire replacement another year, since Schwalbe no longer makes Marathon Mondial in 55-559 width, only 50-559.
Made reservations at Motel6 in Sparks. Rate is now $572/week ($82/night) versus $518 in November and $478 last Feb. So 20%/year inflation.
$25 Eastern Sierra Transit bus Inyokern to Bishop. $90 at Motel6. Final odometer tbc.
$47 Eastern Sierra Transit bus Bishop to Sparks. Check in to Motel6.
tbc miles (tbc km) total, tbc hours pedaling/pushing, average of tbc miles/hour.
tbc nights camping, tbc nights in motels. Total motel expense of $tbc including tax, for average of $tbc/night.
Flat in front tire. Rear tire tread worn: needs replacement. Spare tube needs replacement. Replenish lube, chain cleaner. New chain.
Total tbc nights camping for 2025.
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