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an ode for mike vandeman
Yo' Mike! I haven't forgotten you. I just thought I'd give some of the other groups you annoy a break by not responding to your posts. But never fear. I am keeping my pledge. This is for you, brother Mike: Today I took another ride; another summer swelter. I took extra extra cran-water along and went the river route. The wild grass seems to be growing like.... well.... a weed. It's at least a meter high in places. The landscape is a riot of green, sprinkled with the various colours of flowering plants, red, purple, yellow. Dragonflies must have hatched recently. They seem to be everywhere. They buzz along the path in front of me for a bit. It reminds me of dolphins riding the pressure wave of a ship. As soon as one dragonfly veers off from the trail more join up. They look like nature's little bi-planes. I guess I'm the squadron leader. I take a new [to me] trail branch up and down the side of the river valley. It's a mix of two lane access road and single track. Much of the single track is almost tunnel-like with the profusion of greenery. Bushes and branches slap my arms and face. Finally I come to THE BIG CLIMB. It is a ~5 km stretch that climbs out of the valley by way of a challenging and twisting up & down climb. I feel like I am swimming in sweat. When I reach the top I am rewarded by a beautiful view from a lookout. A good place to rest and re-hydrate. I noticed in past rides that someone had built an inuksuk [Inuit stone symbol] at the lookout. It's still there. I rest and reflect and drink, and perspire. The descent is steep and stark. There is no winding trail here, just a sharp rocky decline. The main trail back is a recovery ride until I cross Stone Rd. whereupon I resume the hillside switchback trails. The wall of hot humid air assails me I am grateful for the convection cooling from velocity. It gives me reason not to stop. There is wind as well and I thank dog for every bit of air movement. The air hitting is not just hot and humid. It _smells_ of green. It is as if the plants are exhaling their hot moist breath smelling of chlorophyll into the air. At the far end of the river trail I head south again to home, hugging some more 'tunnel' trails for shade as well as aesthetics. -- I am working on creating an internet that is off-limits to Mike Vandeman ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 minutes fighting trolls and spammers) |
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