7/14/16 Middlegate, NV to Dayton, NV, about 96 miles. Got an early 6am start today and the riding conditions were great. I passed by Fallon Naval Air Station, where Navy pilots are trained, and got to see many military jets flying around. Just before Fallon, I met two cyclists Amrit and Ajit from Nepal who are cycling around the world. They have been through India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, and are now following a similar route across the United States as myself. I got to Fallon, about 46 miles in, at around 10am, just in time for breakfast. Fallon is where the population of Nevada starts to increase as I approach Reno and Carson City. Fallon is also where the Adventure Cycling Association's Western Express route changes from Section 1 to Section 2. This is the route that I have been following since Pueblo, and it means that I am now on the final section, Section 1 (the maps go West to East, so Section 1 is last for me). Another accomplishment: by longitude, Fallon is west of Los Angeles.
About 20 miles past Fallon, I came over a hill with a view of the Sierra Nevada, the mountain range sitting on the border of Nevada and California. I saw a few peaks which could be on the California side, which means that I might have seen California (after consulting with maps for a while, I think there is fairly high probability that at least one peak is in CA).
As usual, the headwinds picked up again. My pace slowed and I barely thought I could make it to Dayton. The final 15 miles took almost 3 hours, on flat terrain. I got a flat tire at one point (first since eastern Colorado) and while fixing it, a driver pulled over to help. He's a mountain biker and explained the wind to me. Apparently as the sun warms up the air in California's central valley, the air rises causing higher air pressure in California than Nevada. This causes air to get sucked over the Sierra Nevada and blow strongly to the east. I'm now glad to have an explanation as to why I've spent every afternoon in Nevada with hot air blowing in my face. The good news is that I've been breathing California air.
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