Day 77 Cumberland to Hayward 103km

Today has been so full of ups and downs, both figuratively the literally, that it is difficult to settle on an appropriate response. Our plans for a peaceful, romantic breakfast on the lake, while the rest of the campers slept were soon thwarted, by a teenager on a ride on lawnmower. Who thought that his summer job of mowing the campground was best done at 7:30 on a wednesday?! I was briefly amused on noting that here in the US of A even the lawnmowers come with cup holders! Todays highlight, we both agree, was County road B, which we rode for the first 16 miles, the morning sunshine, the smooth road surface, the charming scenery (see photo) all combined in such a way, that we hardly noticed the hills.


The locals from Haugen call themselves "friendly folk" with good reason, a short stop to use the post office was peppered with a stream of hellos and good lucks, and topped off with a request to comment in the visitors book at the general store. We hopped from Haugen, to Birchwood, which didn't have a library as hoped, but heralded the beginning of some decent wind. The road along Lake Chetac was gorgeous, and I was often diverted by views of the lake,


unfortunately Kerstin was up ahead struggling with mechanical issues. All her most commonly used gears were slipping, forcing her to use either hard or soft gearing, on some technically difficult roads, of steep ups and downs, twists and cross winds. Our homemade lunch in Edgewater, brings some respite, and we vote today's sandwich as being the best so far on this trip. Replenished we roll out of Edgewater with only 20 miles between us and our final destination. We just didn't count on the miles of rough and loose gravel we would encounter just out of town, when even Kerstin gets off to push a sinking bike you know it is tough riding. Having conquered the roadwork, we think we are home free, but the wind has only been increasing in velocity since this morning, and out of the shelter of the trees we are challenged once again. Those final 10 miles into Hayward are punctuated with some swearing, and some pretty strong riding (if I do say so!) to the local bike mechanic. Who is so generous as to replace Kerstin's rear cassette immediately, with high hopes that this will resolve the problem we ride in good spirits to the predictably further from town than advertised KOA campground. Where, filled with a big dinner, the ice cream social gives us a chance to sample some locally made ice cream (very nice) while we play a competitive match of mini golf. I'm sorry to have to say that Kerstin kicked my butt, finishing 8 shots ahead, but I feel I redeemed myself somewhat by scoring 2 holes in one!


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