I woke up and packed my stuff, again had trouble falling asleep, not sure whats going on. Maybe I’m not eating enough at night and my body is feeling bleh. Listened to sleepy vibes playlists again.
Got up and was planning on going to that coffee shop but there is this Russian House #1 restaurant on the way there. I dip my head in and see it’s a buffet and i’m like ah naw and this Russian lady that works there says it’s donation based and i can pay and eat how much I want and says “look at the view, even if you don’t eat you can sit and look at the view”. I laugh and wonder what i’m in such a rushed vibe for and am like yeah this is a view I need right now.
The view is amazing and the food was exactly what I needed, I woke up pretty starving. Since its a buffet I can also grab some bread for the road and feel fine about it, I’ve ran low on energy bar things. Everything i’ve typed so far has been here sitting at this place, felt like sitting and writing stuff for the first time since I set off so just brain dumping all my thoughts real quick before I set off for the day.
I’m saying fuck it to that 5 hours of planning I did a couple days back since it didn’t work at all on the first day and I feel like brought me more stress than positive vibes. I think getting somewhere and asking around is just a better way to live life and hell, I ended up seeing some amazingly breathtaking views I wouldn’t have seen otherwise, and the campsite I stayed at wasn’t on any maps I looked at. Also fun convos with people.
I see a small road that goes west and since I have about 4 days left on this (5, but I wanted a safety day incase something happens, I don’t want to miss flight to England), i’m going to stop biking along the coast and start heading west. Wait I mean east. Biking the coast has been gorgeous as hell.
Things i’ve learned so far:
1) Push through the heel of your foot when pedaling and you get way more energy per pedal, don’t push down with the toes.
2) You can carry a few water bottles on you and there are always gas stations you can stop at and buy more or fill them up (the first day I was carrying about 12 lbs of water when I was biking up that hill of doom)
3) Carry as little weight as possible (doesn’t really matter on the flat but does hard on climbs).
4) Eat carbs the whole god damn time you ride so your legs don’t stop working (maybe this is bullshit but it worked, need to experiment with this and how necessary it is).
5) Same goes for constantly drinking water (one bottle with electrolyte stuff in it always so you don’t sweat it all out).
6) Chill the fuck out. Don’t wake up and try and pack and get on the road. Do whatever you feel like, enjoy every moment. Nothing about this is a race. Time doesn’t matter right now.
7) This view is incredible.
8) Bears freak me the fuck out. The two nights i’ve camped relatively out-of-the-way of anyone else i’ve had full on ‘is that a fucking bear’ freak out moment at sounds.
9) Every time you see someone going the opposite way with their bikes loaded up with touring gear it’s like the best smile and wave because you’re going through the same thing and it’s a weird bonding thing, like how people who are driving jeeps always wave at each other but more experiential overlap.
10) coffee is god (I guess I already knew that)
Alright, off East.
