Another lazy start, but it is icy cold early on, and doesn’t get much better. The scenery is still quite nice, though I’ve become a bit blase about it after where I’ve been. It’s a fairly uninspiring ride. The distances are too long, the roads too straight and well made. It’s too easy, even the twisty back roads are too good. It would be fun at 150mph.
Then I start to settle into it and realise that you need a lazy, laid back mindset to ride over here. Pretend you’re on a harley. It’s a country for cruising. Once you accept that the roads are good, there’ll be no problem finding fuel, food or lodging, and there’ll be no drama, then you can let go of all that and just relax, and then it sort of works.
But I’d still rather have the excitement than the bland relaxation. I’m not ready to retire and cruise around in a big RV. I want to ride my bike and feel that awe, excitement, trepidation and wonder. I need scenery to make me stop and stare, roads that make me really have to work, I want to wonder what the next meal might be instead of riding in sure knowledge that there’ll be a burger joint round the corner.
I stop in Pincher Creek (the middle of nowhere) and have a really bad steak for dinner.