Driving out to Bike Your Park/Bike Travel Weekend combined event by Adventure Cycling Association I said to Shay Daylami, “So much of it (getting out for an overnight) is overcoming inertia. You can always come up with reasons not to plan an overnight, not to want to spend the time packing up the bike. But once you do it (overcome the inertia) you realize it is not that hard.” Listening to myself, I decided to make overnights a monthly thing and promote them with our local Facebook group, BurritoPackingNV. Looking back over 2020 there was a lot of great exploring of Nevada’s backroads by bicycle.

Fishing, Railroads, and Community

I invested in a Tenkara fly rod this year and found there was no cost to including fly fishing in my explorations. I live is a desert that has great fishing opportunities. We have several terminal rivers, the Truckee, Carson, Walker, Reese, Quinn and Humboldt as well as wonderful little creeks with diverse species to fish. I find myself giggling pulling fish out of the remote pocket waters. My favorite bikefishing trip this year was exploring the creeks flowing down the eastern slopes of the White Mountains. I made a couple of trips to Desert Creek and was super happy to hear some friends had a great time fishing following my lead. Bikefishing will continue in 2021.

I followed 4 abandoned railroad beds this year. I started on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation and followed the Fernley-Lassen grade from Wadsworth to Flanigan Siding. I also got out to the Nevada Central (Austin, NV), Nevada Copper Belt (Yerrington, NV), and Schurz-Rawhide Railway (Rawhide Mining District) grades. I feel like these are true archaeological expeditions, following civilizations that were reclaimed by the desert only shortly after they were finished. The story of the railroad in Nevada is shadowed by the boom and bust economy of the mining industry.

Our local bikepacking community got a little more organized this year. Following Bikepacking.com’s article on building community BurritoPackingNV was formed in February this year. It has quickly grown to about 150 local/regional members with contributions up and down the eastern Sierras and western Nevada. It has been a place to promote events put forward by Adventure Cycling Association, Bikepacking.com, and Swift Industries. It also gave a place to piggyback North-Western Nevada S24O Facebook group. If I had to say one thing has boosted our local bikepacking interest it is BurritoPackingNV!

By the Numbers; the most popular visits I had this year were for these posts:

• Packraft Review
• Emigrant Trail
• Gravel Rides
• Map Room
• Lagomarsino Petroglyphs
• Dog Valley
• Black Rock Desert Hot Springs
• Pony Express

The people have spoken! Search engines have found! I am listening but will keep on riding and writing on Nevada’s backroads!

My favorite WordPress Blogs; I like all the ones I follow but these are ones I go back to consistently:

• A Dude Abikes – Austin, TX’s bicycling bard
• Lizzie’s Recipes – my Wednesday menus are planned!
• Stormy, Art of Hookie – because deep down inside I wish I were on a boat
• Beards and Triathlons – Bikes, baking, and books (and a whole lot more) on the other side of the pond
• Terrapin Tales – this is the boat I want to be on, sails and oars
• Sea Surf Dirt – Sea Kayaking, Coastal Biking, Great Photography
• BionicOldGuy – Great perspectives on staying active, staying healthy
• Astrolabe Sailing – the nautical theme continues
• Wandering Through Time and Place – inspirational travel and photography

I look to these for entertainment and inspiration! I learn from experts.

See you out there in 2021!

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