Day 5: Logging trucks and a moose

Today has been a beautiful day! Sunshine and beautiful fluffy white clouds!! I only saw a few patches of melting snow today and now all of a sudden, it feels like summer! I think I even got burned through two applications of factor 50.

The road I set out on was smooth and pretty, winding gently through a hilly forest. There was more traffic than yesterday (including a lot of logging trucks) and my hard shoulder was only about 1' wide, but it was such a lovely day and location, I didn't mind too much. I even saw a moose about 20ft from the road that got a bit startled by me. He had a gorgeous glossy chocolate brown coat and a kind looking face and he just stood and watched me pedal slowly past, undecided about whether to stay, run or get annoyed. 

So all was well with the world! Until the hard shoulder disappeared. The trucks kept zooming past and when they came from both directions at once, I had to ride on the soft verge, my wheels sinking into the gravel almost grinding me to a halt. The road surface got worse and worse, potholes and great seams and fissures across the road. The trucks clattered and their loads flailed around as they bumped their way along at 100kmh, noisy MACK monsters ready to turn me into road kill. I just wanted to get to the end of it.

20km later, when I was thinking to myself that I would rather have done yesterday again than endure this (no longer true), the nice road surface was back! And complete with mini hard shoulder. Woohoo! I laughed with joy and powered my way down the hill with a big grin on my face. Phew!

I passed a few campsites around 1 and 2pm but felt it was too early to stop. When I was ready to stop, the campsite I found was closed. Bummer. 15km further to a motel. A flat but very windy 15km that took ages! The headwind didn't just slow me down, it also meant I couldn't hear what was coming up behind me and I got surprised by a few trucks. But hey, I made it and I have 75km under my belt today :)

Every night, I clean and oil my bike before I have a shower, which is a nice wind-down routine. Just a shame I can't get the blasted shoe off it! It makes turning the pedal to oil the chain pretty annoying.