Day 14, Running Against the Wind

After 75 miles of uphill against headwinds, I’m too exhausted to blog.

The highlights: 3,100 feet of climb, 13.3 mph, 5800 calories.

The headwinds started almost immediately and reduced us to crawling up the very lush and very green mountains. Ironically, the wind turbines (windmills) in the adjacent field were turned off, so the wind was entirely malevolent. Our pit stop for the day was in a rec area bisected by a stream that was so cold, it had to be snow on the mountain only minutes before. It was the color sea foam as it rushed by. There were goats frolicking on the mountains yelling, “Matt, Matt.” We stopped at a general store where the proprietor pulled out his picture album and showed up his grandfather with Butch Cassidy (see above, Butch on left, grandpop on right). The waterfall was right next to the highway. Going off route, I had lunch in the little town of Helper. It sat beneath large rock outcrops that were crumbling a few feet from people’s back yard. The population is ~1,000 and the kids at the restaurant couldn’t believe I was from New Jersey, that it was so populous, or that I was riding my bike to New Hampshire. They were awestruck.