Thursday, September 18, 2008

Stinky Clothes (the seventh of September)

If I read a book and really enjoy the way a character acts, I tend to take on certain attributes of that character for a short time. I just read Catcher in the Rye...
So bare with me.
Yesterday Serge and I rented a car, so today, I rented a bicycle. There was a walk that sounded really supreme that the lady at the information desk told me about. I thought I would ride the bike to the start of the trail, hike the trail, and then ride back and do some more walking. I really enjoy walking by myself, just for a change. I think a lot more and it is just nice to do that sometimes. Just walk and think. It helps me clear my head a bit. Today was a sunny warm day, the kind of day that you just can´t help but smile. It was perfect conditions for walking and bicycling and thinking.
It was sunny and cloudless enough to get a bit warm when doing strenuous activity.
I ate cookies and milk or breakfast, so I was looking to do a bit of strenuous activity. I didn´t eat milk but I drank it and let the cookies get soggy in it. Same for supper, but I am not there yet.
So, I rode the bike to Isfjorden and then up Vengedalen- maybe just towards Vengedalen... I am not sure if it is the name of a place or the lake or the road...
Yesterday I was so impressed and inspired by the cyclists going up the steep mountain roads and u Trollstigen. It would take so much physical and mental strength. After today, I felt like an Olympian, but I had no such strength as the people I saw yesterday.
The road going to the hike I wanted to do went up a mountain. A real, actual mountain. Over five miles of steep up. No relief for me and my seven speed mountain bike. Sometimes it would be a little less steep so I could attempt to actually ride the bike, but it never lasted more than a few feet. Sadly. I hardly even had a chance to ride my fancy bicycle (which even had a basket!) on the way up. It was a party on the way down, but not so much of anything exciting on the way up. Normally I wouldn´t say ¨Today I rode a bike (more like walked a bike...) up a mountain!¨ Because most of the time when people say they walked up a mountain, what they really mean is up a steep hill for a few minutes. It is used almost as a figure of speech rather than to state what actually occurred. But today, I really did walk up a mountain. My sore muscles can attest to it. Each time I thought ´this has to be close to the end. I must almost be there.´I wouldn´t be. The darn road just kept going. After about an hour of struggling and sweating my way up, I decided to eat lunch. The cookies were no longer cutting it. So, as I ate my stale bread (but not moldy!) and cheese, a father and son combo walked past me with their fancy full-on road bikes that I secretly wished I had. They even were wearing the official road bicycling clothes- they were the real deal. The only problem was the kid was around ten years old, definitely not over 12. I was thinking, after I had completely sweated any chance of cleanliness off my skin, did that kid ride the bike up? So I decided they had been dropped at the top. It made me feel better about myself. But I decided any way that I would ride the rest of the way because surely I was almost there (which I was not) and it looked like it was getting less steep. So, after eating, I set off and rode or about 300ft before getting off and walking again. good effort. noble attempt.
Oh! There was one time where I was riding up a less steep part and had enough push to go a little ways when it started getting really steep again and a car drove past me. All the passengers looked very impressed at my strength. They didn´t know I had been walking the previous five miles or that I was just waiting for them to go around the next turn so I could get off and continue walking. It still made me feel good. What they don´t know won´t hurt them.
I took a really long shower this morning. I even went to the extra effort of putting on a clean shirt for a while, before thinking better of it. Then I put on the same ol´stinky clothes. It was good thinking too. Not even half way up my ¨bike ride¨ I was starting to smell pretty ripe. So it made me wonder why I should go through all the trouble of showering when my clothes reek any way?
After nearly two hours, I made it to the summit and the base of the thirty minute walk I had set out to do hours earlier. But it was worth it.
I bet today was at least a 25 mile day, all in all. The views all the way up were fantastic and once I reached the top of the hike, the views were even more spectacular. Today was a top-notch day. As I was hiking up the trail, I felt like a true champ for making it so far and not turning around or giving up. It was a really good feeling.
And, on the way down I only nearly killed myself. I was going a bit to fast... to say the least.

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