Epic

October 20 ( wiggles' birthday!)
73 miles ( personal best!)

Bike 5 miles north to get to moe's bike shop and get it fixed. Moe lets me know that the motel i stayed at has the rep as being the spot for trashy troublemakers, with police visits ever other night. Greeeat. As I reach into my back pocket to pay, I notice my room key from said trashy motel there beacause I forgot to return it upon retrieving my bike. It just so happens moe suggests I take another route (101) to make up time. Do I send the key by mail? Taxi? Police car? Of course the motel attendant doesnt pick up the phone. Fuck it I'll just bike the long way. And of course he has a sign up " be back in 2 hours." I just leave it in the mail box. Hell, I tried.
Oooon we go. The alternate route was hilly with a small shoulder, but gorgeous. I saw no one but trees for miles (kinda). Roads like this are why I went on this trip in the first place.
  Gather 'round the campfire kids, cause it's story time. The name of the story is "how I lost my granola" or "the Bernstein bears learn bad habits." so I'm biking on this empty, beautiful road with trees all around me. I reach the top of a little hill to find two black dogs chilling in the road. That is they were chilling till I came. Hereupon they decide to raise all he'll and bark and surround me. Well shit, I can't put my bike between me and the dogs if they're on both sides, so I basically sit in the road yelling "no" and "bad dog" so loudly my dogs probably would have peed themselves. Eventually, they lose interest after realizing that I'm in fact a human and not some spinning fluorescent yellow behemoth. I continue and 2 miles later I see another black dog at the bottom of a hill dip.
  I do my ceremonial "slow down to 3 mph." crap.  That's not a black dog. Now I'm going 3 mph within 20 feet of a small bear. Okay rob, it's small, so it's probably just a small fem... Oh shit. Out of the woods 40 feet past said "small female" is a larger animal that in our culture we'd call "momma." my inner monologue simply calls it a series of profAne explitives. 
  so here I am, going 3 mph, and have passed small bear and am coming up upon mom. What is it they say about what you shouldn't do with bears. Oh right. Ahhhhhhhhhh click click (biggest adrenaline rush of my life) I switch to eight gear lowest as fast as I've ever done, but the larger gear won't change. Perfect. I have never before heard my bike make more noise, seen my legs peddling that fast, or experienced an uphill climb at that speed. And yet apparently, when bears run (apparently they can't run downhill because of their structure) it's faster that gear one can take you. Think think... !!! GrAnola!!!! I unzipped my handlebar pouch, grab my granola and chuck it out behind me. It's praying time. 
  Enter bears state of mind. @I'm gonna catch him oh yes I am I'm gonna ooh what's that is that food oh yes it is mhmmmmm@
  crisis averted, but I peddle the next two miles crazy fast. Many miles further, I get to humbug mountain state park, which, thank god, is not at the summit, but the base, and eat a wonderful meal of pasta, peas And cheese. Sleep? Nope. Thanks to a couple raccoons who in civil courts would face charges of persistent hArassment, I spend two hours throwing rocks around at glowing eyes, cause that's really all you can see of them. Hey, I hit a few though. Bah, humbug (mtn)