So here we are again, ready to take off for another ride, goal being a little less….Get to Northway Junction. 48 miles away. Seemed measly, but today we knew we were going to experience lots of elevation changes, and were hoping our bodies were ready for another go after a day off.
So toodlee doo TOK! Another gorgeous day out! Already in the 50’s at 10am and the sun a shining! We both pushed off the ground to hit the saddle, and we both had the same reaction…”ouch.” What in the world? Our tushies were still wrecked from 2 days ago. But whatever right?! The show must go on! And indeed it did.
The pain wasn’t too bad I guess, to start anyways. And honestly my legs felt rested. They had some power and speed today. At least something felt good.
So we’ve been jonesing to know how much our bikes,plus us, weighed since we started the trip. Just out of curiosity. As we were riding about 5 miles out of TOK, we found a truck weigh station. Of course it was CLOSED. But we said “what the heck,” and rode over into it hoping we might get lucky. Nobody was there but we were able to see the scale through the window so we drove our bikes on the scale. Me first. 300lbs even! William. 440lbs! Hefty hefty hefty! Ha! Remember those commercials? Ok ok let me get back on track! So oh my gosh! We are really pulling a lot of weight. I guess we should give ourselves some credit huh?! Well that’s settled, so let’s carry on.
It was pretty flat for the first 10 miles. Easy casual riding, and then ugh ohh. Here they came in the distance. The hills….It was A-ok at first. We were really pushing it. Got up to 18 mph on some of the hills. The body is amazing. It really is. There are times where you’re climbing and you feel like you are on a straight away. Then other times you feel like you just added 100 more pounds to your bike! Not today! Legs were peddling non stop. Well, of course for a break or three along the way. Lol
So snacks today consisted of leftover Baby Back ribs from yesterday’s “Fast Eddies”, cookies, and pizza (Fast Eddies). Man those day old ribs were delicious. Finger licking good…literally! One of my favorites.
Those snacks seemed to hold us over pretty well today, they just didn’t seem to fix our rumps. As we got closer to Northway Junction the pain really started to be nagging. Each stroke put pressure on the butt bone and all I could feel was the ache. Now I, not William, started to slow down. I needed something to take my mind off the pain, but all I kept seeing in sight was another climb! Grrrrrr. The downhill was fantastic. I took those opportunities to get out of the saddle every time, but it was never long enough.
We did eventually make it to Northway Junction today. There was a gas station that said “Last Gas Station before Canada” on it with a convince store so we decided to stop and ask where a good place to camp was. My rump was so happy we made it, but the clerk gave us bad news. “There’s camping, but it’s 10 more miles up the road.” Whaaaaaat? You mean I have to sit back on that saddle for 10 more miles? Get out of town! Yes…get out of town to find camping! Rats! Unbelievable. So tormented as I was by that saddle we got back on her and fast as we could and got to the campground.
This campground made me so happy. I wasn’t exhausted I just wanted off the bike for the day. We posted up right by the water with views of the mountains in the background! Lovely! We put up the tent, made our beds, a fire, and made some food! So relaxed, cleaned up, full, but not full enough for a toasted marshmallow over the fire, a little computer work and now it’s time to get some shut eye after watching the sun go down. Crossing our fingers our rumps feel better in the morning! Canada, here we come!