8 Months

Today marks the 8 month (35 week) point of my beard growing journey, only 4 months left now until the goal of 1 year. I had doubts at the beginning that I would reach the goal, but at this point I can't see myself failing. The thought of shaving the beard is actually a little scary, I like the bearded look for myself. It's been an interesting journey to say the least, and I've learned a thing or two about patience over the last eight months. 

My bike got on the bench first thing this morning, and this time I had booked a room at the Holiday Inn right beside the dealership. After getting some breakfast I went back to the room to do some reading and relaxing. I had a headache for a change, and although the severity and frequency has gone down drastically since I quit smoking, they still come along too often. I'm still impressed with the staff at Gasoline Alley HD, they treat me especially well since purchasing the bike there. It's nice to finally have found a place I'm comfortable with. 

The weather had been deteriorating throughout the morning, lots of cloud moving in and ever increasing wind. I had estimated they would be done with the bike by 2pm, but by 1:00 I was leaving Red Deer. I stopped in Leduc for a quick lunch, and while I ate the rain began falling. The next 125km was pretty scary riding, my face shield in the helmet was fogging up badly and it was raining so hard I couldn't see through the windshield. On the Heritage, I looked over the windshield, and I obviously need to shorten this one as well. If I could have looked over it would have been much safer, I really couldn't see a thing. After getting gas in Westlock the rain let up a little and traffic was light, so that made the riding much safer. The rain pants I've been using were pretty cheap, and they are not very effective anymore. For next year I will need to get another pair, hopefully some that last a little longer. I also don't have rain proof gloves, so I was pretty wet by the time the rain stopped about 30km out of Slave Lake. Due to the rain all day, I didn't take the scenic route like I had planned, so I was done riding by 6pm. After a nice dinner, I checked into the hotel and got a coffee from Tim Horton's. a hot coffee and some pills finally chased away the headache. 

The weather forecast is calling for rain all the way home tomorrow, although I really hope they are wrong. Last year I did hardly any rain riding, and this year I've done a ton. I'll shorten my windshield once I get home so that I don't have to deal with not being able to see again, and will continue to search for gear that keeps me dry. Rain riding is no big deal if one can stay dry, it can even be enjoyable then. 

Stay calm, beard on, and stay in the wind!