Pause

Day 71. Prescott to Cornwall. 51 miles. 4,386 TTD. 1,332 ft elevation. Weather pleasant but wind mildly uncooperative.

It was a little odd to realize as I looked across the St Lawrence that I was staring at New York. That bridge could take me back to the US, but I’m still loving Canada.

If you haven’t figured out by reading this blog that I may not be quite so bright, then either you’re not reading very closely or you’re not very bright. I suspect it’s the former. I hate selfies, but the four above are to illustrate that even that’s difficult for me. I was trying to get a picture of me and a wind sock. If you look really close in the last picture, you can just make out the tail end of the orange and white windsock. And yes, it’s blowing in the direction opposite of my riding.

I’m not too concerned about my inability to take selfies. What I am concerned about is that it takes me so long to implement things I know to be true. For example, taking pauses along the ride.

The ride along the St Lawrence continues to be beautiful. Of course, every day of this ride has shown me some type of beauty. Unfortunately, I didn’t always pause to appreciate it. Today, with only 50 miles to cover, I stopped multiple times. Heaven forbid I even went off route at one point to go to this park and sit down to eat and look out on the river. I sat there long enough that the seagulls almost became a problem. BTW, that rectangle shape in the river in the first picture above is the local “swimming pool.”

Even though it was a short ride, the wind almost became a problem. Wonderfully, at about the time I was getting frustrated with it, the route veered into a marvelous riverside provincial park. There was a paved trail that meandered through the forest and then would break out alongside the river. It went on for several miles and made for a pleasant reprieve from the wind.

Somewhat surprisingly, there were many cyclists on the trail. Most of them were going in the other direction, obviously smarter than me as they were riding with the wind. Unfortunately, there was also a wasp or a bee on the trail that found me and stung me a couple of times. Thankfully, the pain didn’t last too long, and the upside was it caused me to pause:-).

The route really was quite remarkable and enjoyable. I’m not trying to Pat myself on the back because I didn’t plot it. I used an app. But, I did stop it another time to sit and eat and enjoy another Provincial Park. I’m learning to pause. I’m just a slow learner. What I have learned about pausing while trying to accomplish my three goals is that I’m often taking a pause with a hotel clerk or a store clerk. This has been a real upside for me on this journey. Riding alone can, of course, be lonely, and learning to pause and engage with all these wonderful people along the way, even if only for a few sentences, continues to make my life better. And pausing to appreciate the beauty of this country continues to make me appreciate it more.

Admittedly, starting tomorrow, the pause and engagement with people may be difficult, or it may just take longer as I try to sort out, with the help of a translator app, what the heck the other person is saying in French.