The locals give me strength
I had no lunch, fearing it would only make me sick, and began my gradual descent, inflating my tyre every hour or so as it had developed a slow puncture. I clipped into my pedals, slumped over the handlebars and allowed gravity to carry me. I had cycled through a desolate landscape that morning, a landscape absent of any real interest, but some distance beyond the summit of the pass I glided down into a wide valley with steep sides whose colours built with every passing mile. The valley floor became lush with healthy, green crops, occasional trees swayed beside simple but colourful buildings and the cloud broke to offer long periods of sunshine in a wonderful blue sky. With the change in scenery my mood improved and I sailed along at a reasonable pace, every corner I turned offering new and pleasing views. Workers in the fields downed tools and rushed to the road to wave at me and builders did the same. People out walking and cycling shouted cheery greetings and girls in their underwear in a thermal pool raised their arms and called to attract my attention. The driver of a train, struggling up the gradient with its heavy cargo, waved through an open window of his cab and pulled on his air horn, which resounded through the mountains causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. Everyone wanted to see me and wanted me to see them and I acknowledged them with a cheery ‘Ola!’ and a raised hand. I had been given the strength to sit tall in my saddle.
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