East Fork Chulitna to Trapper Creek Inn & RV Park – Day 14

07.15.12 Day 15 East Fork Chulitna to Trapper Creek Inn & RV Park 72.55 miles, 768.46 trip miles 13.2 mph, 31.9 max 5:29:08 ride time All pavement Clouds and Rain. 40-60’s Days of rain: 6 Well last night I slept through multiple rain showers. I guess I was pretty tired. It’s raining again now so the tent will be put away wet once more. We got rained on first thing this morning as we started the ride. Not only was it raining but it was cold as hell too! Mike’s hands got cold packing up and it probably took him 3 hours before they got warm. The day did clear up but it was overcast and just cold enough to make my nose run all day. I had to strip out of my rain gear way before Mike as I run warm. Before long I had to take my knee warmers off too despite it still being overcast. The big news of the day was there was little to no wind. This meant a high average speed and easy pedaling for once. I was loving the riding today and felt strong. My hamstring keeps tightening up but Mike showed me a great on bike stretch I can do to combat it. Besides a tight shoulder which I’ll have all trip I felt great on my bike. I was riding strong and it was fun. There was not much to look at today besides some cool lakes and small marshes. I did see a lot of beaver activity but no actually beavers. We actually didn’t see anything larger than a squirrel today. The clouds did lift a little to give us a view o a great mountain range in the distance but I don’t know which one, Alaska Range? We stopped at a cafe and a pizza joint today. At the cafe I had a huge brownie and a Coke. Mike just had like six cups of coffee. Surprisingly he wasn’t all jittery afterwards or loopy like he can get. It’s like he gets drunk on caffeine. The pizza place was great. The crust was so crunchy. The whole pizza was homemade. One beer is all I could handle with dinner. Right now I’m in my tent after a long hot shower listening to the rain on the fly. What a great sound. Living inside is great but I miss hearing nature. The trip is much different from my others as I’m with someone else but the effects are the same. I’m so relaxed and stress is so limited. I can say I’m pretty mellow. Those at home wouldn’t believe how chill I am. I don’t talk fast but I still mumble at times. 🙂 My beard and hair are getting long. Mike is impressed by my burliness. I’ve definitely gotten stronger and lost weight. Hopefully not too much too soon. Glove count: 26 Tie Down Count: 53 Scatman