On fears realized and the colour red

I had been afraid what happened today would occur ever since leaving Montreal: having to pedal back into a stiff prevailing wind. It was blowing at least 30 km/h with gusts up to 50 mostly directly in front of me as I rode through mostly open farm country. The only real exception came at the very end of the day when there was about 10k of closely wooded bike path which was also slightly off the eye of the wind.

In addition, a few hundred meters from my motel in Gentilly, the road had been dug up from side to side in order to install a culvert. This explained why I had been able to sleep with the window open the night before. I portaged across the gap making two trips. I was not out of the woods as some kilometres later, I had to make another portage. As I was reattaching my bags, a female cycle tourist going the other way rolled up. She asked me how I got across. I explained how I jumped the ditch and warned her about the other location. She had a number of bags on the back of her Norco which looked like more trouble to take on and off than mine.

My route took me across two Abenaki Reserves. I felt a trifle worried about the fact that I happened to have worn a red jersey today. Perceived symbolism and all that. Of course, it was a bright red jersey, the colour chosen for visibility and my liking of bright red and nothing else. Mind you, much of me is now red having skimped on the sunscreen.

Home tomorrow and lesser winds forecast.