This could well be the best of the bunch.
I've finally managed to let go of all the worries and stresses I'd been carrying round the last week or so. Though I'm not exactly rested I feel vibrant and full of beans. I'm in the moment all day, and what a day.
I left the motel to the sounds of Chris Rea. The road to hell was appropriate for the worst junction I've seen in some time, tons of lorries vying to get on the freeways, but the P2P machine snaked it's way onto the appropriate highway. As we turned onto the first big hill of the day almost immediately Fool if you think it's over came on, a fine way to think about the ride.
Last week while heading towards the end of 10 days straight cycling I found a spreadsheet with the day by day route. I miss read the columns and had assumed that 'the worst' in terms of long days were behind us. Sitting in room 228 of the Red Roof Inn, Harrisburg/Hershey after cycling over 100 miles over the Appalachian mountains with 2 days previous being close to similar distances I look back and smile at my naivety.
The terrain for the first 50 miles was exactly the kind of bike ride I love, and the kind of terrain that made me love riding a bike for leisure beyond a utilitarian tool. It's like the ups and downs of Hampshire I grew up in and still love to ride, but with a little more oomph. And very hot, not sure I've ever sweated so much.
Yeah there were navigational issues, but the way I have been blindly led across a nation by a man with a machine more attuned to navigation than the whole hive mind of the P2P machine, I have learnt to roll with it, and let frustrations roll over and lie down like the so many road kill that we see all along the route (which are still maintaining a reasonable level of variety - raccoon, gopher, terrapin, squirrel etc.).
After some faffing, admittedly, we ended up at possibly the best lunch spot of the whole trip, but a quiet river or stream, with ample space for van and picnic under shaded trees. I was so enthralled taking it all in that I neglected to get a decent picture. But, always reliable, Bob did a fantastic job of it.
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| Lunch in Newville. Picture by Bob West |
It's hard to accurately describe why the ride was so enjoyable, but partly the weather. Even if you're sweating buckets, if you have water and a destination then sun is preferable to rain. it lightens the mood considerably But the hills were the thing. Some of the steepest of the ride it seems, ups and downs, with curves and corners, a joy to ride. Bring true the analogy of hills and riding equals life, you work hard to get up, and sometimes it all gets too much and you wanna give up/be sick/throw it all down and go back to where you started. But once you've worked your way to the top, however you've done it, you get to coast all the way down wooping and hollering and honking your silly little clown horn like there's no tomorrow.
- Saw Hockmans house
- offered water by a dude with a tiny dog on a lawn mower
- Still hot
- Little bit of tension
- stopping for watermelon
- Stopping for cold drinks
- (it really was very hot)
- Heavy traffic
- golf balls
- Over the bridge to Harrisburg
- Riding by the river
- Big noisy fire engine
- Obviously staying a long way out of town
- a few nice beers over dinner
- agreement that there's not far to go now so a
lateearly start tomorrow.
Oh and a final note - keep forgetting about my mind turning to mush and the phenomenon of just announcing anything I see on a sign as a way of inducing conversation, be it with others or myself. Rotating back into society won't be all bad if I can avoid reading out billboards to strangers!
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