Alaska: Day Five

"A goal should scare you a little

and excite you a lot."

Joe Vitale 

 

 

We meet for breakfast and then back to riding dropping into the Copper River Basin and along the Gulkana River.  Not only are the front of my legs sore as I take off, but I am beginning to feel it a bit in the calves.  Again, I find the pace that is comfortable for me and try to hold it.  I always think of what I was told about how keeping a steady pace uses less energy in the long run for I was told to think of a car:  accelerating and decelerating a lot increases fuel usage.  Thinking of pace also makes me remember Duc Do on a ride telling me to keep a steady pace when I had accelerated on a climb fearing I was climbing too slowly for the group I was a part of at the time. 

The traffic has decreased further making the ride much more enjoyable.  I think this is the day we stop seeing the weirdly shaped ore trucks.  The scenery becomes more picturesque with mountains capped in places with snow.  We have been incredibly fortunate weather wise this trip with clouds rarely obscuring our view, though one day, and I can't remember which, it was beautiful how the clouds softly nestled against the tops of the mountains, embracing them as if they were parted lovers.  

 

 We have two good climbs this day, not particularly steep but not as gradual as prior days.  There is also one of the best downhills.   While I again ride mostly alone, Dave is with me on one downhill and when I grab a quick look, like me he is grinning ear to ear.  Mostly, however, the downhills for climbs here, with a few exceptions, don't seem to offer much pay back for the effort made to climb them.  The other riders are more cautious descenders  and the words of Mike "Sparky" Pitt come to mind for he once said I was a fearless descender.  And it is true.  I love the downhills, the way the wind whips by me, the sheer adrenaline filled delight of rushing headlong down the hill.  

 

I think about how we sometimes tuck the things people have said about us away in our hearts and pull them out to examine occasionally or to give us strength.  How one simple sentence can make someone feel wonderful or skilled or worthy or ready and, of course, the opposite.   I think of Bob Evancho telling me after our overnight ride to French Lick that he felt I was ready for this Alaska ride.  I think of Lloyd telling me that basically I am a kind person.  And there are more, hurtful sentences that tear down as well as build.  How powerful words can be. We forget that sometimes.  

 

I am jolted out of my reverie by the stop and then by learning that S. had a flat.  (One of the people who was supposed to help had been sick and so we just have one guide rather than one in the van and one on a bike.)  Greg quickly closes up the van and goes back to help her.  I think how there have been a plethora of flats despite the knobby tires and wonder if it is related to riding on the shoulder of the road rather than the road itself for most of the flats seem to be wires and I suspect those wires are from blowouts from car tires.   I have been riding in the road now traffic is lighter and using my mirror.  Whether that is the reason or not I don't know, but I escape the adventure without a flat as does Dave. I later learn that she was frightened and think how lucky I am not being so frightened of being alone, maybe even when I should be.  Which is not to say I am not a coward at heart, particularly when I allow my imagination full rein.  

 

This was also a day when things tended to strike me as funny.  At one point, someone evidently lost a box of shoes as they are scattered all over the road.  It makes me think of the Shoe Tree we encountered on a century many years ago where people had flung old shoes, laces tied together, over the branches of an old tree.  It was covered with shoes as if they were fruit.  I also spot a sign on the right that says Post Office and looks official. It is pointing to the left (other side of the road), but the only thing standing there is an old, beat up looking silver mailbox.  I stopped and took a photo but apparently it didn't turn out.  I did get the shoes.  How little it takes to make me smile when I am happy on new roads and on a bicycle.

 

 

The left over pizza at lunch is just the ticket for finishing out the ride. I am normally not a cold pizza fan, but today, compared to the choices and with the hunger one gets fueled by exercise, it tastes wonderful.   I don't spend long at lunch or any other stop as I begin to stiffen and the stops are spaced at only about twenty miles apart so there is no concern about running out of fuel.  Plus you can stuff one of the snacks in your rear pocket to pull out as needed though I only do this a couple of times.  At one stop, M.C. and I laugh about a sign in the outhouse telling  one not to stand on the toilet seat as you might fall and hurt yourself.  This is probably related to visitors from other countries that use squatty potties, but we find it amusing.   

The ride ends at the only motel in  Glenallen but is our least inviting of any we have stayed at.  I am surprised to find bottles of water in the room, then see the sign that the water is safe to drink but has a bad odor so they provide bottled water.  No coffee maker in the room but available in the diner.  The worst part was bathing.  I was unable to find a way to take a shower so did something I never do:  bathed in a motel.  I love baths and take them during the fall and winter months at home, but I never bathe in a motel.  When I run the water, it is a red color.  I force myself get in wondering if it will stain my skin.  It doesn't but I don't really feel clean.  Still, the sweat from the day has been diluted and hopefully I don't smell like the water.   Dave later tells me there were instructions on how to use the shower, but I never did see them in my room.  I giggle to myself thinking it is like being in Europe where turning on the shower is often an IQ test.  Regardless, it is all good.  I am on a bike and I am on new roads and seeing new places.  The day ends with a Mexican meal and then bed, preparing for the last day which Greg has promised will be the most scenic and the reason the route was arranged the way it was.