Tough Guy

I'm a pretty tough guy.  There isn't much in the woods that frightens me besides bears, humans, trees falling on my tent, moose stepping on me as I sleep, those frog people from the Nathaniel Cade series, monsters from bogs, evil things from corn fields, zombies, werewolves, dogs, choking on food when I'm alone, big vehicles passing me on my bike, "kind" strangers poisoning the water I ask for, humans wearing masks, that lady from The Ring, murky water, those undead people from the Goosebumps show I saw when I was 10, boarded up houses, and any other scary things I have ever read or seen on TV.

I was going to use this post to then talk about how lightning scares me the most, but having just made this list, that is not true.  So instead of talking about lightning, I'll talk about fear.

I deal with all these fears through a combination of preparation, denial, fatalism/bravado, and a bit of common sense.  (The only constant preparation I have is an emergency road flare I found, to use against bears if they come snuffling around my tent at night [this method is not commonly recommended]).  I go out across the country, alone, despite all of these fears because the flip side of having an overactive imagination is seeing extra beautiful things in daily life.  I won't make a similar list as to above so you don't all think I'm daft, but I chose to accept more than I see/hear/touch.  This isn't religion.  It's my life, and I'm choosing to make it magical.  

Midwest? No, Pennsylvania!


I finally made a century!  First one ever! 104.1 miles.  Like most of my day what happens to me these days, it was unplanned and unexpected.
So what goes into a century day?  Is it all focus, getting up early, driving hard and taking few breaks?  Not at all.  I average about 11 mph (nothing tremendous) and so all it takes is 9 hours of pedaling.  When I think that I wake up from 7-9am and pull into camp from 7-9pm, it seems like it should be a cinch, even with lunch.  I can't explain this.  For some reason, 50 miles often finds me looking for camp around dusk.  So what went into this century day?  Eating pints of wineberries because the bushes are absurdly bountiful.  Stopping for a wrap and ice cream at the best store in the world- Jarrettsville Creamery.  The picture below is a small ice cream cone.  It's bigger than it looks.  Getting stuck under a tiny porch in an abandoned house in a lightning storm for an hour.  Realizing I have gone 70 miles already and was feeling great pedaling through the steady downpour.  Refusing to look at the odometer for just a few more miles and then cracking an checking, only to see that I was at 99.74 miles! Triumphantly watching 99.999 tick into 100.00.  Looking for camp in the dark because I pushed myself to go into late dusk, and eating a celebratory veggies stew with pepperoni.

This is one of the biggest ice creams I
have ever had the pleasure of eating



Free veggies from the Kimberton CSA, and pepperoni!


















So far I have gone 776.3 miles, and I'm at the Prince William Public Library in Virginia.

Highlights of the last few days:

• Hanging out at the Landowne's farm in PA
• Buying ice cream for myself because I'm an adult and I can make these choices
• Darklight: the sky opening seconds before I can get the fly on my tent and everything I have developing puddles... then realizing in my haste that I set up on top of brambles and poison ivy)
• Zooming around Washington DC in the rain.  I got a good picture with me in front of a not broken down Parthenon (take that, brother who is in Europe!)(the Lincoln Memorial) but I can't figure out how to upload pictures from my regular camera.
• The Dunkin Donuts lady adjacent to the laundromat giving me free donuts because they were old.
• Being only one state away from my rendezvous with riding partner Alexander Blume at Warren Wilson College!