Phase I, Day 9. Delta - Salt Lake City

134 miles. The last 34 miles took forever.

Phase I, Day 8. Baker, NV - Delta, UT

105 miles. First couple of hours..Awesome. Last 3 hours..Not as awesome.

Phase I, Day 7. Ely-Baker, NV

85 miles. Included a side trip up to Great Basin National Park.

Phase I, Day 6. Eureka-Ely, NV

82 miles. Another excellent day. Just about perfect.

Phase 1, Day 5. Austin - Eureka, NV

71 miles. It was a beautiful ride and a perfect day.   I wanted to keep going but the next bit of civilization is Ely, 80 more miles. Ely will have to be tomorrow's project.

Phase I, Day 4. Fallon-Austin, NV

119 miles. Went like this: climb to a pass then down the other side, across a broad valley then up and down again and again.

Phase I, Day 3. Carson City-Fallon, NV

71 miles. A nice tailwind push and slight net downhill made it the easiest 71 miles I can remember. 40F at the start but I brought the cold weather riding gear so all was good.

Phase I, Day 2. Woodfords, CA-Carson City, NV

30 miles. That's it? A bit of a letdown after the epic ride yesterday but necessary in order to work around the weather.

Phase I, Day 1. Sacramento-Woodfords, CA

An epic but very long day. 122 miles, 80 of it climbing 10,000'+ to cross the Sierra, took about 10 hours.

Ready to ride.

Caught the train from Martinez this afternoon to be in position for an early morning start from Sacramento tomorrow. Looks like the day-early start to avoid Monday's nasty high Sierra weather was a good idea. Sunday's weather looks ideal to cross the Sierra. Also, leaving Sacramento at 5:30 on a Sunday morning will be much better for car traffic. There will be none! My favorite.

About the Ride

Alone on my Trek Madone road bike with just the water and food I can carry, a change of clothes, an Ipad, credit card and a healthy bit of enthusiasm I am pedaling along the 2000 mile Pony Express Route from Sacramento to St. Joseph, Missouri. I don't know how many others have done this before me, certainly some, but clearly it's not a popular idea.

Pony Express 101: The Pony Express was established in 1860 as the first reliable means to send messages across the vast American West. The Civil War was looming and timely news and communication between California and the East was crucial. The Pony Express was, essentially, a relay. A specially designed horse saddle could carry important correspondence in leather pockets. A rider would leave St. Joseph, Missouri, where the railroad and telegraph lines from the East came to an end, and ride his horse westbound at full gallop. Ten-15 miles later at an established relay station rider and saddle would change to a fresh horse and continue. After a series of horses and 100 or so miles the rider would stop to rest and pass the saddle on to the next rider and so it went. 150 relay stations and 10 days later the saddle and its important contents would arrive in Sacramento. During the journey riders were subjected to extreme weather, high elevation, darkness, and particularly in Nevada, serious trouble with Indians.

The Express ran in reverse direction at the same time for returning correspondence.

If a series of horses with riders could manage the journey certainly a middle-aged family guy with plenty of energy drink and ambition could manage it too?

A Pony Express delivery would take about 10 days to complete the 2000 mile horseback journey. At 100 miles per day a strong bike rider should, ideally, be able to complete the same route in about 20 days. However, I've elected to break the ride down into 3 one week segments to better fit around family and work. A bit of back-and-forth shuttling is necessary but it helps keep the people in my life happy and keeps it fun and fresh for me so I don't burn out.