So now we find ourselves on the brink of actually heading south... in our intended direction! It will be a relief to not tell people we are trying to go to Mexico and have to answer to why we are biking north anymore.
I believe there were jokes made before our departure of the nature of our journey being a race of some sorts, and that Christina would try such dasterdly means to beat me as throw banana peels behind her as she rode. So I just wanted to state, for the record, that while tailing Tina I have had to dodge 3 banana peels thus far. This is no joke.
I'm not sure we've done a very good job of logging our mileage or location thus far... So for those of you who care, we are now in the town of Courtenay on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. We are (supposedly) riding 55 more miles today?
This morning began with a crazy 18 mile race to catch an 8:00 ferry , ending in barely making the damn boat and a flat tire about a 1/4 mile before the dock.
According to the ticket man we "were lucky".
After arriving at the ferry dock for Comox, we were forced to take a bus into town as we assumed our bike pump was too big a piece of shit to do the job. (We were wrong... sorry bike pump.)
Now we have been well fed, gotten the flat tire fixed, found us a nice little library, and have an ice cream sundae plus a lot more riding left on our agenda.
The days are already blending together. (And it's been three!?) When I mentioned that the phenomenon of days being really long again (like on the trail), christina looked up at me with glazed eyes and said "why is that again?"
It was amazing.
Where has she been?
There are so many stupid questions that goes through ones head while totally physically exhausted. Like: "why do slugs insist on travelling out into the road, only to get turned to yellow goo?"
"what would make a christmas tree farm smell like a pot field was on fire?" "Can I make it up this hill without being a wuss and changing gears again?" "If I ride in the middle of the rode for a little while will it be more fun because of the adrenaline rush?" "Will my vagina look the same when this is all over?" "Will my quads be too big for my jeans?"
You get the picture... hours and hours of soothing intellectual searching. Deep into the soul.
A meditation on wheels.
If we don't get going soon we might have to ride 150 miles tomorrow... so until the next computer...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You guys are pretty amazing. Funny, smart and strong. Makes me proud just to know you.
By the way, since you are stopped in a library, I will mention a book I'm reading - "Learned Optimism" by Martin Seligman. It is, among other things, about the utter rout of the behaviorists by the cognitivists, which happened some time after I graduated from college, and wasn't really informed about. It is also about how different people think about (and talk to themselves about) the inevitable storms we all occasionally have to weather, and the critical difference the nature of that talk makes in how well we weather those storms. It is pretty amazing stuff - very specific and very profound at the same time. If you get a chance, pick up the book and read it. If nothing else, take the self-test at pages 33-39 (of the Vintage paperback edition) and read the scoring explanation on pages 43 to 51. Found it pretty revelatory.
Go Team Spirit Animal Spandex!
perhaps out of longing to feel part of the bishop family... i have added joey's recommendation to my goodreads to read list, which means you know, it will get read.
Post a Comment