Sylmar, CA to Boulder City, NV via Gerlach, NV SS1K - 1,047 miles - 18 hours, 9 minutes.

Another year had slipped by, making it time for my annual SaddleSore 1000. I had heard about the IBA memorial near Gerlach, NV and decided to check it out. Gerlach is just over 500 miles from Sylmar, and about the same distance from my mom's winter home in Boulder City. So I decided to ride on a Friday, spend Saturday at mom's and then ride home on Sunday. The weather was a bit unsettled in October, and rain had came into the west earlier in the week. I kept watching the weather reports and on Wednesday decided there was enough of a break in the rain that I could get my trip in.

Mother Nature wasn't going to let me off that easily. The forecast had the rain leaving Thursday evening, but it lingered through the night and was still drizzling in Sylmar at 3 AM. I was confident that I would escape the rain once I made it to the high desert so I took off at 3:21 in the drizzle. A quick stop for gas at the 210 freeway to get a receipt was first on the agenda. Then it was I-210 West to I-5 North and finally CA-14 North. By the time I hit Escondido Summit, the drizzle had stopped.

The initial clothing was:

Feet - thin socks + riding socks (Silver Sokz) + boots

Legs - long johns + boxer briefs + Joe Rocket Phoenix mesh pants

Torso - long sleeve thermal shirt + t-shirt + Joe Rocket Phoenix mesh jacket + windbreaker

Hands - thermal gloves + Olympia gel gloves + Aerostitch triple digit rain gloves (unlined)

Head - balaclava + head wrap + full face helmet

The trip was under clouds through the Antelope Valley and Red Rock Canyon. After I joined US-395 North, I started to lose the clouds and when I got to the Owens Valley the moon was out and shining brightly since it was nearly full. I got gas in Lone Pine, 189 miles from home. I continued up the Owens Valley in the moonlight. It wasn't until after leaving Bishop and climbing up to Lake Crowley that the sun was up enough to attempt to warm me up. But coming up was Deadman's Summit at 8,036' and the temperature was dropping. It must have around 40° at the summit. I was cold, fingers were a bit numb and so were the toes. I really should get some heated grips. Pulling into the gas station at Lee Vining (6,800') I needed to walk around to get the blood flowing so I could warm up a bit. I remembered that I had a set of lined triple digit rain covers, so I put them on instead. Wow, what a difference. I should have put them on when I was leaving Bishop. 311 miles down, and more to come. Aerostitch does not make the lined version anymore.

After Lee Vining, US-395 climb to another summit. Conway Summit at 8,138' was also quite cold around 40°, but the lined rain covers made quite a difference. At Bridgeport, about 20 miles north of Lee Vining, I turned right onto CA-182, heading towards Yerington, NV. Crossing the state line, the road became NV-338. I then took NV-208 and finally NV-339, bypassing Yerington to the west. The road went straight north to Fernley, NV - first as US-95 ALT and then US-50 ALT.

Turning left in Fernley on NV-427, I got gas at a truck stop at the I-80 junction. 447 miles done! It was now 10:20 and the air had warmed to the 60's. Nice for riding. I removed the rain covers from my hands, and took off the wind breaker and balaclava. NV-427 took me into Wadsworth, an old railroad town along the original transcontinental route, and then it was north on NV-447 to Gerlach. I got gas in Gerlach (523 miles) and then went north of town along the Black Rock Desert (home of the Burning Man festival) to reach the memorial which is along Guru Lane. I rested at the Iron Butt Motel (for Iron Butters - this is a picnic table at a rest stop - good for catching a quick nap), took some photos, and then went back into Gerlach to sample the hand made ravioli at Bruno's Country Club. For Iron Butters, this is also a must do when in Gerlach (not much else is there to do in town - Gerlach is pretty much in the middle of nowhere). The photos below are of the memorial, looking towards Gerlach from the memorial, Bruno's in Gerlach, and a plate of homemade ravioli.

After filling my belly with some most delicious ravioli, I left town for the run south to Boulder City. 529 miles had been conquered, and only 518 remained to ride! It was 1:10 in the afternoon. So it was south on NV-447 to Wadsworth, West on NV-427 to Fernley, then continuing west on US-50 ALT to Fallon, NV. I got gas in Fallon at 2:50 pm. 633 miles since I left Sylmar. Then it was south on US-95 all the way to Las Vegas.

I find the ride on roads through Nevada to be beautiful. So I was enjoying the scenery as I went south. Gas stops were in Hawthorne (4:01 - 705 miles), Tonopah (5:38 - 809 miles), and Beatty (7:14 - 902 miles). The ride into Beatty was bathed in moonlight. No clouds and a full moon. I Beatty, I put the balaclava and windbreaker back on for the final leg to Boulder City.

Approaching Las Vegas, the road finally became a multi-lane divided highway, and later a freeway. The glow from the city was prominent came toward it. Friday night traffic was fairly light as I passed through Las Vegas on US-95. At the I-15 junction, US-93 also joined my path. I would be following US-93 for the final few miles into Boulder City. The final gas stop was at 9:20 pm after covering 1,047 miles. Then it was the remaining 2 mile to mom's home and food and rest.

The purple line is the ride north to Gerlach, The blue line is the return south to Boulder City. The grey line is Sunday's ride home to Sylmar.

Sunday's ride home was pretty much uneventful. I avoided Las Vegas and part of the Interstate by going south to Searchlight and then west on Nipton road.

I did finally get to stop and sample "the best burger in the Mojave" at the cafe in Nipton. I had the Blue Cheese Burger. It was delicious. The burgers are wrapped in a large flour tortilla instead of a bun. There was the usual lane splitting through Sunday traffic on I-15 between Baker and Barstow.

The paperwork was submitted to the IBA on November 2nd. The certificate was received on February 28. It is the 16th IBA certificate for the garage wall.