Having left Yosemite and cracked on a hundred and fifty hilly miles down south in the last couple of days, I muse today on animals.
Firstly midgies, or mozzies - hence the picture of my post ride patented ankle defence solution. They just love me. I'm covered in bites despite my best attempts to avoid them - deet, covering up and occasional showering. 'Occasional' might be the problem here, drying sweat is driving them mad.
Today I've seen, heard, and come in contact with a complete menagerie of animals... turkey vultures, other unidentified birds of prey, crows, swifts, birds that cheap a 3 note song (the first note higher than the second two), cows of all shapes and sizes, sheep, pigs or hogs, squirrels (lots), hares, peacocks in full show, penultimatley dogs, and finally flies. I'm sure I've missed a few, but the latter 2 are worth expanding on.
I've only been chased by 1 dog prior to today and that was some miniature terrier - still scary. Today was different, just as I passed a sign saying 'no trespassers - we shoot', a whole load of loose dogs came after me. Normally the passing of this English cyclist stimulates a barking or two from chained or fenced canines. This was a whole different ball game. Luckily, these dogs understood good old Anglo Saxon swearing and shouting and a shot of adrenaline helped me sprint off up the hill. I suspect the sign is redundant when you have four legged friends like that.
After the dogs came the relative safety of the flies, but blimey they are a pain. Attracted by profuse sweat no doubt, as I climbed almost continuously from 750 feet to 6500 feet today, these things were relentless. I must have looked like Linus from the Peanuts cartoon with a cloud of flies trailing behind.
The attraction of flies is a vicious circle too. As they are attracted, you try and swat them, using more energy, producing more sweat, attracting more flies. You can also try out running them. This works for a while, before they catch up. Once again you're sweatier and more attractive (to flies). Flies seem to attract flies too. As I passed some flies on the road, devouring some roadkill no doubt, they just jumped on with the others. I am sure the health dangers are minimal, but as they kept trying to land on my eyeballs, I swotted madly again and again, more sweat, ad nauseum. Eventually the cold altitude saw off the most (reader please add word for strong, dogged, etc, I can't think) of my friends and I was suddenly alone with the massive Sequoia trees in Kings Canyon National Park - I'd arrived.
Quick note on things other than flies you don't want to encounter when you are climbing on a loaded touring bike (ie slowly).... cattle grids - the ultimate poor road surface for 2 yards, overtaking cars when you are struggling to hold it straight, oncoming cars when you have wandered over to the wrong side of the road for a gentler incline (quiet roads only I promise), and of course unchained dogs. I suspect my list will grow.
Ok, noodles and bed for me. Snow forecast for the next 2 days above 6000 feet. I'm gonna hotfoot across a couple of National Parks and get low. I'll still be high spiritually though - this is fun.
Cheers, James
