Here's what I learned after we left Cape Lookout, the World's Most Perfect Campsite Ever:
1000 ft climbs suck. They're hard, they hurt, they're exhausting, they're no fun.
1000 ft descents? awesome. freaking. AWESOME!
It's a weird sensation to go flying down a mountainside. The wind rushing by essentially deafens you and brings (literal) tears to your eyes. But it's so much fun to watch your bike chew up the distance you fought so hard to climb, leaning into turns to keep your momentum and bracing your body to keep your balance.
Or if you're Zac, hitting potholes halfway down the mountain, having your waterbottle fly up to smack your butt and then fall off (the waterbottle, not the rider!) so you have to break and retrieve it!
And even more surprising was the moment, 100 feet from the bottom of the mountain, when we encountered this:
Sand dunes. On the side of a mountain.
(and an old record player, on a sand dune, on the side of a mountain..)
It was an incredible and unexpected find. It made me grateful that there was a slight incline in the mountain before the dunes. It forced us to slow down, which meant we were taking in the scenery when we got to to the dunes, rather than flying by them!
We stopped for lunch shortly after the Big Hill at the Pelican Pub and Brewery. I had tasty tasty fish'n'chips...and (brace yourselves!) a beer. Yep. I voluntarily had a pint with lunch...and LIKED IT. Strange things happen while you're on vacation...
We pulled into our campsite by 4.30...which was so nice. We could take our time, take hot showers before dinner, and still have plenty of daylight left to read and relax and chat with other bikers. Of course...we might have been more inclined to stay out and chat had it not been in the 50s! Sorry to hear you've been sweltering, Chicago, 'cause we've been shivering our tails off! Well, when not biking anyway.
The next day was (dare I say it??)...EASY.
We had only planned for 32 miles...taking a break after the 1000ft climb day, preparing for a day with a couple bigish hills.
What I hadn't anticipated was how very easy flatlands felt after so many hills! The distance we planned to cover before we stopped for lunch...we finished in the first hour. We stopped to do a little whale watching...couldn't get any pictures of the whales, but the vista made us both wish we were pirates:
There was still a bit of a climb to tackle...but I don't think we'll ever have a completely flat day. Oh well! The path itself was beautiful:
Note the Tiny Zac for size comparison!
And the view from the top was well worth the climb!
(and we're kinda cute too!)
We got to Newport (5 miles from our campsite!) by lunchtime...which meant we could enjoy some drool-worthy seafood for lunch. We got a fried clam appetizer, Zac had calamari'n'chips, and I got clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl. Nothing like biking 25 miles to make delicious food even tastier!
We decided to frequent Bike Newport (http://www.bikenewport.net/) where Zac got some gloves to cushion his hands (I'd done so towns ago! it really does make a difference) and I...did laundry?
This place was quite possibly the coolest bike shop I've encountered. Downstairs is your typical bike shop...but upstairs, they have a "day hostel" for cyclotourists! Shower, laundry, tv, computer, internet, chargers...everything you could hope for when you're on the road, ready to use! It's really quite neat...and it was nice to sit on a couch for a couple hours.
And it's REALLY nice to feel like we're on vacation.
Cheers!
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