First Spring Ride

Alarm goes off at 5am.

Thermometer says it's a little over 30°F. Not bad, but it's dark as night.

Hit the trail with Gretchen by 5:30am. The air is dark, cold, and damp. The trails are wet and slick - not muddy, but sluggish in places.

I'm not doing so well. I haven't ridden in weeks. I can't make the turns, see the rocks or judge the log-overs. I'm out of practice and it's foggy. My light creates more glare then sight.

I plod along suffering the necessary. Gretchen is running and having a blast.

First climb I expect to warm up - get the fingers somewhere on the nicer side of numb - doesn't really happen.

Keep plodding along.

Hit the downhills, stop at the creek for a drink, then make the long flat traverse past the coldest parts of the abandoned quarry.

Climb the slime up the back, down and out and into the fields. There's some kind of newly dug trench running the perimeter of the field. Gretchen decides to investigate. It's only as deep as she is tall, so she's having fun running along side of me in the muddy hole.

Rocky decent to the barn ruins and ruin the finish over the last roots and rocks. Start to climb up and out.

Gretchen scents a rabbit, sprints ahead, then off into the brush. I ride by her point of exit and keep going. She needs to learn I'm the rabbit. Chase another rabbit, you may not get home. Down the trail a ways, but behind me, she pops out and sprints to catch up. As if to show me she's cool, she sprints ahead of me and stays out front for a while.

Back to the car by 6:30am. Only the glow of the sunrise has peaked above the horizon. My light was required for the entire ride.

Home by 6:45am. Back in bed and sleep till 8:30am.

I'm not ready for spring.

- b