I rode 50 miles today. I'm so proud of myself. It took me four hours and three minutes - no speed records here today, but by golly, I went 50-freakin'-miles. Yeah, baby.

DH is doing the Tour of Poway Century next Sunday, but I did a half-century today. I'm really happy with that.

And the super bonus was, along about mile 35, I thought I heard an eagle scream. It pierced through the voices in my head. I don't listen to music or anything while I ride. I like to hear what's going on around me, but the voices in my head usually keep me quite entertained. Today, though, I heard that scream. I looked up, nothing. I listened carefully. Nothing. I had just about convinced myself my brain had pulled up some random memory because the only eagles I know of around here are in the zoo. Then I heard it again, and it was even louder. It sounded just like something off of Wild Kingdom.

I still didn't see it, though, but now I was looking for it. I rounded the next little peninsula and there it was, a California Golden Eagle riding the thermals and circling up the hillside looking for prey. I've been riding here for nearly a dozen years and I've never seen an eagle here.

My god, they really do glow gold when the sun hits them just right. It was the most beautiful creature I've ever seen. I stopped and watched it for several minutes until it flew away over the hill, out of my sight. I tried to tell the couple of walkers who passed me on the trail, but neither of them seemed interested in why I was standing there astride my bike, gawking skyward.

Many, many years ago we were camping in the mountains and I was up early, sharing my morning campfire with a curious crow, or maybe it was a raven. It was a big black bird. He hopped around looking for bugs or whatever it is big black birds do in the early morning, and then he jumped up on a log across the campfire from me, turned his back to me and spread his wings as if he were posing, and just at that second, the sun broke over the treeline behind me and it turned his feathers to shiny pewter. He stayed like that for several seconds, still, like a pewter statue. I knew in that instant how the Native Americans could turn wild creatures like this into gods.

I saw a raven turn into a pewter statue then, and I saw an eagle turn into gold in the sky today.

When I got home and got cleaned up, DH took me and DD out for lunch, then we drove the century route (just the first 60 miles, actually), so he'd be familiar with it next week. We marked where the 7-11s are, in case he needs to stop for ice or water.

I'm not sure what was more exciting, burning 3,000 calories in one day or seeing that eagle.

It was a good, good day.

Roxy