country biking

I think I might have had a small glimpse into by brother's english biking experiences.

After turning off of the double lane, divided highway that sported such wide shoulders, I had an experience of damascan proportions. It suddenly became all quiet 'cept for the buzz of my tires. Gone were the 5 metre wide shoulders but so too was all the traffic; and any traffic that remained was palpably less intense and aggressive. Gone also were the exhaust fumes (you can instantly tell which vehicles burn below emission standards). Those odours were replaced by heady, full bouquets of hay and canola fields, aspen, horse barns, dogwood and thunderclouds.

Yes, you can smell thunderclouds. You can also see them, feel them and hear them. I wondered if I should get off the bike for fear of the lightening but I figured the telephone poles would be a more likely target and so continued on with a huge smile on my face as the rain pelted down and streaked across my face, arms and legs. It was brilliant.

59:12min / 28.5k