Morning bike rides

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Lately in the mornings I've been going for bike rides by myself - I don't start work till 10, and it's so nice to get out on my bike all by myself and see the park. It's so good for the soul! I'm out by myself, and surrounded by beautiful mountains and trees...it's a really great way to start the day and to make sure that I keep appreciating where we are. There's something really peaceful about it, my bike is completely silent, so I can hear the birds calling and the wind in the trees (and my painfully laboured breathing up the big hills). I can stop where I want, and sometimes I just look out at the mountains and think how lucky I am to be here.

This morning I decided to ride out to Pyramid Lake. I left at about 7.30am and there was no one around. On my way up the hill just outside of town, i saw 3 elk, with HUGE antlers - it was amazing! Then I rode down to Patricia Lake and as I was riding between Patricia and Pyramid Lake, I saw a giant bird of prey (maybe an osprey??) in the tree. It was calling out (which is how I noticed it) and it was beautiful! I stopped my bike and just watched it for a bit. It flew off and in it's claws it had a poor squirrel (very sad).

So then I get to Pyramid Lake and I decide to keep riding right out past the hotel to the end of the road. I'm riding along and I can hear a strange noise, so I take off my ear muffs (it's freezing here at the moment) and I hear howling. Wolves or coyotes I guess - there was a whole pack of them from the sound of it. It made my hair stand up on end. Really beautiful and kind of creepy.

So eventually I turn around and start riding back to town. By this time, it's pouring rain and freezing cold, so I'm pedalling as fast as I can. I'm wearing my biking sunnies (they have a cool tint for overcast days) and I can't see very well because of the rain on the lens. I come round the corner and I can see this big brown thing coming out of the woods. At first I thought it was a deer or elk, but it was way too fat and short. Keep in mind that while I'm trying to identify it, I'm still riding closer and closer to it. Then it comes out on to the side of the road about 20m in front of me and it's this GINORMOUS bear! I had a heart attack!!!! I slammed on the brakes and it looked up at me and I'm thinking HOly SHit, it's a grizzly! We're staring at each other and I'm trying to decide if I should turn around and pedal my ass back up the hill. Then he looks away and walks across the road and off into the woods. Then I notice he doesn't have a hump on his shoulders - I think he was actually a brown bear/cinnamon bear. It was amazing. I just sat there on my bike, and I can feel my heart doing a million miles an hour. Then I get all goosebumpy and I can't believe I just saw a bear! It was amazing! I called Jamie right away at work. He asked if I took a picture of it, and I told him I was lucky to have stayed upright for the whole encounter. I needed both my hands free for the potential escape!

It was the best ride of my whole life!!

** One of the guides at work told me that it was likely to be a grizzly bear! There's one in that area at the moment, and if there's a grizzly in the area, the other bears stay away! I described it to him, and he says it sounds like it. Either way, it was incredibly cool.

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Photos

Pyramid Island
This is where I heard the wolves...