the blah blah blahs

I had “first-day-back fever.”

Fitful sleep—and raring to go and pedal south and finish this end-to-end cross-country ride.

Bracing! Temperatures in the high 30’s to start with an intermittent light rain for the first 2-hours of the ride.

And lots of elevation gain and loss. This isn’t the flat south. This is serious rolling hill country on the edge of the American-Canadian border.

Lots of up and downs, up and downs, up and downs. But blissfully isolated and lightly trafficked roads. Going through national preserve and state lands. Mostly Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge early in the day.

Errant picture snapped (below) during a quick rain jacket stop. A cold rain in 40 degree weather while doing 8 to 31 miles per hour is… BRACING… to say the least. You can catch a lot of speed doing steep downhills—and a bone-deep chill too!

I was riding in the middle of the lane for an hour as there was such light traffic in northern Maine. Felt truly alone on the edge of Round Lake… except I was standing across the street from Calais Gun and Rod Club building—luckily no one was about with shotguns or fishing tackle.

But some serious gusts started blowing out of the Northwest. The low 40’s temperatures felt like 35 degrees with the wind chill.

Always encouraging to see I’m on the right track… but I’m always put off by signs sprayed with shotgun blasts… fun on a Friday night?

This section started the roller coaster effect in earnest—there were 14 sustained climbs over the 47.5 miles I covered today.

Short break by Clifford Stream, about 32-miles in, just before a climb. It was so cold and windy here I could only tolerate a 5-minute butt break, but I was staring straight up at the steepest pitch of the day.

Spotted the distinctive Sturdivant Public Library Building in East Machias just before the rain made a reappearance.

The day’s destination is about 1.5 miles away here, and it felt like it couldn’t come quick enough. I loved being back out on the trail, but I had very mixed feelings about being cold and wet for 5 hours.

That’s bike trekking…

The riding was a continual roller coaster wave cycle: the riding was up, the riding was down. The weather was up, the weather was down. And I’m worn down after the first day back.

But it’s a good-healthy tired!

Staying at an 1800’s farm house converted into an inn on the banks of the Machias River. Finally warming up!

Biking on the ECG / Day 27:
Start: Calais, Maine
End: Machias, Maine
Miles: 47.58

What I’m Reading:

And the only sound is the rustle of metaphors
crying out and the surprise is that nothing
we say or do not say or say again can hold
here in the crush of one thing into the other…

— Jenny Xie / “Le Temps Mort”