Cowboy Swagger

This morning we cycled from Franz Josef Glacier to Fox Glacier.
The first hint that this may be a challenging ride was hidden in the place names, the word 'glacier'. Generally 'glaciers' are found in 'mountains'. The second was the offer from a local guy we met last night. "I'll be driving that road tomorrow around 1pm...give ya a honk and pick ya up if ya need it".
The clincher though was the diagram in the guidebook (just the part with the 3 peaks on the right side).

But you know what? It really wasn't that bad. It was actually...FUN!
Don't get me wrong. We busted our butts today and are both walking around like two cowboys after a rodeo, but it is so rewarding to know that we got here by our own power.

Robbie was saying that it feels just like a tough portage, and I would agree.
When you're walking with a boat on your head and you can't think of anything else but putting it down and you're just praying for the lake to show up soon because putting it down means getting it back up again....it's similar to the uphill bike ride.
When you get to the point where your muscles say they have nothing more to give and you say "that's not an option legs, because the effort of stopping and starting again on this hill is WAY more effort than to just keeping on going, so get going, GO! GO LEGS GO".

I actually said this over and over again...GO LEGS GO, GO LEGS GO...in time with my pedaling. This is the way I made it up the 3 peaks today. The mind really is an incredible thing, and the body, such a push over (but don't tell it I told you that!).


(pre-ride scouting of the glaciers)