Wednesday, August 15, 2018

The BiQUE Ride - Day Three - Part One

Had a wee bit of a panic attack this morning as I wasn’t able to get the keyboard to work. Yet - it worked when I typed in the Passcode for the internet. OH - I think it wanted me to send a few e-mails out first.

Another GLORIOUS day on the bike. What can I say - but these trips are so much fun. I know, most of you are rolling your eyes and saying - do it! But a visit to the cottage or the beach is more your style. That’s OK. We’re all different.

I see that some of the others caught onto my trick - get out of camp (or the hotel) early in the morning. It’s better to do that than hang around and then arrive late in the day.

I must confess that I took a left turn right out of the driveway that wasn’t supposed to be a turn - I knew that was going to happen. 1 KM down and I realized this wasn’t right so I went back. So I had an extra 2 KM on the day from the others.

The temperature was a bit iffy and all day there were clouds threatening. Big black rain clouds. Actually we started the day off with a few very small showers that were really sprinkles. Not enough to get you wet.

We backtracked over part of that detour from the day before. And then we were on new ground. I swear there was a head wind for a greater part of the day, but my legs are feeling strong. I had a peek at the data collected by my computer. Everyday, we climb betweeen 400 and 600 M and we descend between 400 and 600 M. Now why do we not remember the downs, but only the ups? Actually I noticed that I seem to be better on the ups. Why is that? I’ve at least 20 pounds LESS to carry on the bike than I did last year. Think about it - if you carried a twenty pound bag of flour with you - imagine how much better and faster you would be if you could put the bag down. OH yes - I’m hooked on my new weight and will do whatever I can to maintain it.

At about KM 28, there was a nasty hill. Fortunately it wasn’t very long but it was 13% grade which is pretty steep if you didn’t know that. I did gear down and worked my way up and I was fine. The truck was at the top so we fueled up - those darn butter tarts. Then I was on my way again. There were five of us at the truck at the same time.

It was a pretty uneventful day except for watching those clouds. We had been told to stop at a winery that has a sculpture garden and a gallery. Hmm - I wasn’t going to, but then thought - I have loads of time so why not. It was beautiful. I think the winery was Huff. I saw the first bits of sculpture by the side of the gallery. Many very unique pieces. Then I followed the path to the back - OH MY - there was a three acre sculpture garden back there. Some absolutely gorgeous pieces that would look lovely in my garden but I’d have to mortgage the house first. I took lots of pictures for inspiration. The pieces in the gallery were amazing as well - the one I liked best???  A mere $10,000.

Let me finish this in the second part.

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