Yesterday, I went on a ride over the hills to the opposite side of the peninsula and back. We took two different roads to cover the hill portions; one that went "over the top" and another that used tunnels to connect the uphill and downhill portions. As typical with the weather here we had a wide variety of options to enjoy and or suffer through: wind, sun, overcast and mist, more wind, partly cloudy with no wind and of course ending with lots of wind - in the face.
The first pass went "over the top", that is climbed up and over the hills. We had a strong tailwind, that dissipated once we got into the trees and constant s turns of the climb - the first few kilometers were at a gradual 5-7 percent grade, only the last 2-3 k were averaging 10 percent grade - ouch. The decent was kinda tricky, lots of blind s turns and varying road conditions (quality of the road) made line choice rather important, add in cars and motorcycles coming up the climb and there was plenty to pay attention to, other than the forest around you.
One the opposing coast (to where we live) we got on a new road, so very wide shoulders and smooth asphalt to fight the cross wind up to the return point. The road was so new that the maps we were using (google on iphones) did not show that it existed. We took a side route over to the final climb of the day - and as expected the wind was in our face over the top and down the other side, at least the clouds had thickly formed over the hills and a cool mist helped keep your temperature down over the last climb. Head down - into the wind on the trip back across the plain to the house. A good ride, 85k total ... still feeling it today.
Stone had the pleasure of being pushed around for a while yesterday as Joan took him on a walk in his stroller. As you can see by the photos in his album, he got his first taste of sun exposure, with our fair skin being passed to him. The burn was mild, and today he does not seem to even notice it :). Last night we gave him some goodnight medicine and started him on his second full length movie, the Sound of Music! He made it through "How do you solve a problem like Maria", before letting us know he was ready for bed ... I am sure there will be many more opportunities to finish the entire thing.
Adieu, and you and you and you-ou!
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