10 days later

Riding, hiking, and canoeing have all been on the agenda over the last ten days. We’ve done two 4 mile hikes at Pokagon State Park, canoed on 5 of the seven lakes at Chain of Lakes State Park, an 18 mile ride, a 30 mile ride, a 43.5 mile ride and today we just finished a 40 mile ride.

The rides were all to the North and East as the wind was coming from the NE. This is a great work out because the elevation gradually rises as we head north and with the wind in our faces it presents a real leg-burning challenge. We averaged 15-16 MPH for all of the rides, which includes the slower gravel roads that we occasionally traverse.

Riding past the Elk ranch today was cool. It was comical to see the Elk duck their heads below the tall grass in an attempt to hide from the threatening bicyclers. It was a great plan all except for the four feet of antlers that stood above even the tallest grass. We had a couple of playful horses run along the fence line with us as we passed. Amazingly we did not encounter even one dog today that wanted to give chase. The only animals that plagued me were the bees. One flew in my mouth, which I quickly spit out without getting stung and another bounced of my glasses and stung me in the shoulder. Oh well such is a ride in the country.