Day 17: showers are great
Last night was cold. I forgot to check the temperature but had to put on a t-shirt and my bandana to keep warm in my sleeping bag. But a great 11+ hour sleep.
This morning I had coffee before heading off. I must start doing this from now on. Makes the morning so much better.
The cycling today was great. Where the miles yesterday felt slow and hard, the miles today flew by. I think I can quantify this. Both yesterday and today averaged 16 km/h. However, this is pure cycling time. Yesterday and today were similar distances (roughly 60km) over similar terrain in similar pure cycling time of maybe 4 hours. Yesterday this 4 hours of cycling was over 7+ hours whereas today it was over 5ish hours. And today the breaks were voluntarily to take in the views and for lunch whereas yesterday it was all catching my breath and having to rest. I was sure yesterday that tomorrow would be a rest day but given how well today went, I am thinking of cycling again tomorrow.
I said a few days ago that I have noticed far more Trump signs than Harris signs for the first couple of weeks of the trip. I felt the last day or so this has flipped to mostly Harris signs.
One particular view after lunch today stopped me in my tracks. Stunning views over cliffs and beaches with these massive rocks/boulders out at sea
The campground today at Humbug mountain is pretty great. The showers are 10/10 stunning. The things you appreciate on tour… But it is my journal so you will have to endure the description… I haven’t showered in 3 days due to lack of facilities. So the separate rooms per shower with a little bench to put stuff and the button for the hot water that isn’t the 7 second bursts kinda button but a good 5 mins per button press with unlimited button presses.. And the water was the perfect level of hot. Given the monumental occasion this was, I decided to break out the tiny little half full motel bottle of shampoo I stole a week or so prior. I had been saving this for such an occasion. Who knows how long I was in that shower. 5 mins? 20 mins? Hard to tell. I definitely used more than the $8 I gave to camp worth of hot water tho
Everyone from the camp yesterday is camping here tonight and Phill bought 3 beers so I think we will start a campfire and have a beer. Doesn’t matter if the beer is warm and shaken from being on a bike for hours, it always tastes phenomenal after a day’s cycling.
The internet is very poor here so I guess this wouldn’t be uploaded until tomorrow sometime (a day late)
