Day 32 – July 18

A day for riding 120 miles, climbing over 7000 feet, pictures of flowers and bugs and for fires by the road side. Not to mention this day and a wakeup to the big eastern pond. Gary studied the weather forecast and said we needed to be cranking by 6:30 am, because it was very possible to have showers in the afternoon. That’s a 5:15am wakeup. We woke, ate, packed and cranked on time. I stopped and stocked the kitchen for the day and caught them about 20 miles in. The climb was just ahead. Gary and Matt stopped for peanut butter and banana on wheat just before the climbs started. The day was warming and the humidity was growing.

When the guys climb I play leap frog between them so that they maintain their own pace. Matt is usually in front and I get ahead of him and trade bottles and give GU and then wait for Gary and take care of him. I try to pick a good spot for service and photos and am always amazed that I find such detail to shoot. That says the world is full of beauty even if you do not see it. Kind of like the tree when it falls and nobody is around to hear. The sound waves still exist and the flowers and bugs are still busy.

We were delayed by road construction and two fires. A log cabin was burning and later a jeep caught on fire and melted down. The fire departments were quick to respond and controlled the situation. It caused us to wait a bit but Matt and Gary put in 120 miles to make the last ride day an easy 60 mile coaster. ARE WE THERE YET?