Starting to feel it

My body is sore today. It is different being sore in the cold rather than in the heat. I’m more used to a dull ache rather than these sharp pains that the cold provides by keeping the muscles cold and stiff. But we are working through it.

Roy has been a trooper. He has definitely biked further than he ever has before and yesterday seemed like a day entirely uphill. It’s funny in that we actually dropped 400ft in elevation but we must have climbed 1000ft first! We can both feel it today but I’m still looking forward to riding again today.

It is an amazing sense of freedom and joy to just be riding through the country. I have been up this way before having done a cross-country camping trip with my ex and our girls. However, we drove by car and some of the little joys we’ve seen in the last few days I’ve not had the chance to experience.

Picking fresh Washington apples off the trees growing alongside the highway. Seeing huge salmon stuck in a stream - I tried to get them but we had no way really without getting wet and it was just too cold! Good thing too, it’s a $500 fine to get caught with salmon without a license. Listening to the wildlife as we ride by.

I also am getting to experience all of this with my dogs. They haven’t been riding with us yet as we wanted to acclimate to the grueling physical torture but watching them run free in all the new nature has been exhilarating. They are pure happiness and joy and it is hard to have a hard heart when seeing them in all their wild beasty glory.

Which is good. Pain and uncomfortability will certainly bring out the grumpy in people and while Roy and I are both this sore we have a tendency to want to lash out. I’m doing my best to ignore the pain and keep the exhilaration going because, after all, this is an amazing trip. Getting away after a long ride for a moment to myself, with the dogs, out in nature certainly helps.

That and hot showers.