Night Rider out later than wanted on a freezing 23* low, breezy and damp air night for an easy zone 2 ride. when I got to the lake area, it was very smokey with the strong smell of a fire. I saw nothing and continued thru the area.as I continued on my route I got a point that I hadd to return to the area to make sure no house was on fire so I made loop back to the area... I rode around the smoke and smell of burning wood had lessened some. Feeling good about not seng any houes in the area on fire I went back to my ride. I was tolld that near the area back in the woods is an area the homeless set up camp and it is possible they were burning wood to stay warm as it was below freezing. I made a decision to go shorter and ride at an easier pace and effort, my cadence suffered big time so without putting much effort into speed I increased cadence to get it back up, it took me over 30 miles to achieve the goal. After the fire search I had to replace one the power meter pedal batteries with erratic readings then nothing for a while I got an error notice PM battery was dead. I replaced the battery and went on my way and only making 2 pit stops..