I woke up with the birds, packed my sopping wet tent, and was on the road by 6. I had a remarkably bad coffee at the Chevron on the edge of town, even by gas station standards, but the bananas were ripe.
A pretty ride in the cool morning, the smell of pesticides hanging the air but soon wafted away by a nice tailwind. Locals didn’t seem to notice the smell until, “now that you mention it”. A 5 mile climb near the end just as it started getting hot but I carry ice water, so it wasn’t too bad. I saw a black bear ambling down a hillside towards the road ahead and I stopped, unsure of what to do but thinking it probably wasn’t reach for my camera which is what I was doing. The bear saw me and turned and ran back up the hill, making it look easy in spite of it being very steep and so no bear encounter.
I’m camped in the trees by Gillette Lake where I went for a swim. So refreshing, I think I could live on a lake. But not if the Russians swimming there and being caricatures of themselves were my neighbors. So although the setting wasn’t one for quiet reflection, it was for reminiscing.
I could have gone further today, there was plenty of daylight left. But I’m not in a hurry and getting better at enjoying the process.
