7 O'clock in the WHAT?

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My work has flexible scheduling, and I probably get a bit of extra leeway because I commute by bicycle.
So, do I get up early, and ride into work ahead of traffic? Heck no. I wake up, wait for rush hour traffic to end, THEN I ride to work. Mornings were made for sleep. Days where I have to get out the door any time before the ungodly hour of 9:30 require coffee. Coffee is proof that there is a loving God; through it He gives us the strength to bear the unbearable.

I say all this to point out that I'm not a morning person.

Last Saturday, I had group bicycle ride that required me, not to wake up by 7 o'clock, but to to be at the starting point at 7 o'clock. In the morning. A 7 in the MORNING? Who knew? What's worse, the start was 40-50 minutes away by car. When you're up early enough that the coffee shops aren't open when you go out the door, you're up too early. I'm just saying. Since it's been established that coffee is a gift from God, I can't think of a better working definition of "an ungodly hour" than one where you can't buy coffee at one of the local temples, err, coffee shops.

Last week's ride was a nice 100k fundraiser for the Fuquay-Varina United Methodist Church, put on by their "Spiritual Spinners" cycling club. They raised a ton of money for a laundry list of worthy causes. While they were at it, they put on a really great ride. I look forward to riding alongside them on the Tour de Cure next month. More likely behind them - they're faster than me.

I was 'the only' of the ride. The only one with fenders, the only one with disc brakes, the only one without drop bars, the only one with a handlebar bag, and the only one wearing a green jersey. Probably the only one with rain gear in the event that the skies opened up like the weatherman predicted. I suspect, had the rain started, there'd have been a contest to see who could draft behind my fenders. The rain never came, but I was ready for it. It was almost disappointing after the way my last long-distance ride turned out. Almost.

I went with Aesop's Tortoise Strategy for this ride - as few stops as possible, and just keep spinning the pedals. I brought enough fig bars to fuel me the whole distance, enough water bottles to cover half the route. Most riders hit all three stops, & spent more time at each one. I stuck with my strategy, and since the same people passed me two or three times, it seems to have worked.

The ride started at 8, and the noon church bells rang as I pulled into the finish all alone, which was kinda cool, to tell you the truth.


I got in trouble, though.  My wife wanted to be there when I crossed the finish, and she figured I wouldn't finish until 12:30 or later.  Next time?  I'll call her when I hit the last rest stop, and wait until she's waiting for me.  Sure, it'll mean that my overall time will suffer, but making her happy makes me happy.