Air time

North Bend, WA

Friday, March 30, 2007

Yesterday it was sunny. I noticed that when the sun comes out, the people tend to come out too. I was so excited to ride that I went out to ride at 1:00pm. I think there’s something to be said for riding in the afternoon despite its status as indolent. If you leave for a 5 hour ride at 1:00pm, then you get back at 6:00pm. Most people get home from work at 6, so it feels like you’re getting back from a long day in the office. In Spain it’s worse though, I’ve gotta ride at 5:00pm if I want to be returning from the office the same time as everyone else; 10:00pm. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I never did that while I was there… The approach to our apartment is much more treacherous in the dark.

While I was wandering about on my bike yesterday, I accumulated 8500 feet. On my way home I had a short glimpse of Mount Rainier & noticed the way it towers over everything else at 14,410 feet… & to notice that I’d climbed almost half way up it was a startling observation… quite startling indeed, like when you’re hiking a steep grade for 30 minutes and turn around to check out the view only to receive that fleeting feeling as though you were in danger of falling off the side of the world. Maybe it wasn’t quite like that, more a majestic awe type feeling.