Life On Two Wheels

Along the river and toward the mountains a morning shadow shimmers across the road. The rays of the first light jet through the trees and across a figure gliding upon the road. His breath trails in short spurts, petrified as it hits the icy air. All is quiet except the slight sound of the athlete as he summons himself for yet another days work. Soon the rest of the world will bustle with life as well and the brief simplicity of cyclist and nature will disappear into the everyday struggle of life in full motion; the errands and intervals, the appointments and intersections, and the deadlines and finish lines OutPaceTheRace

Monday, May 22, 2006

Frolicking in the Gironian countryside

Girona, ESP
Monday, May 22, 2006

Today I did an easy 3 hours towards some St. town. Half the towns are named after saints, so keeping ‘em separated becomes a bit of a burden- I wonder how the pope does it? But I guess that’s what he’s paid to do… Anyway, I rode out to this town and turned on to this rode, then turned on to another road (right), and went through two roundabouts before coming to a bridge with a little road branching off to the left immediately after crossing the bridge. The road turned out to follow the river up to its head waters, which, might I add, were somewhat more substantial than I had reckoned. Here’s the thing- in Spain healthy streams are not something you often run across. Usually they’re deluded, lacking luster and anything of life. But this one was as lively as could be; it frolicked with underbrush beneath the bridge… So I followed it up and noticed that there was a fairly insignificant dam holding headwaters back. Most intriguing really, so I kept following the road. Eventually I came to a bridge that crossed what headwaters were left and started climbing up the side of the valley (this river went straight back into the mountains). I came out of the forest and there was this fricken huge dam in front of me with what looked like an ocean behind it! I rode across the dam, and could hardly glance down the side without fearing the fall that loomed below. The road continued around the headwaters, but I didn’t have any time left to explore, so I descended a road made of rubbish as I pondered the chances of turning onto the road I’d just discovered.