Dark Dark Morning

I completely fell back to sleep between my alarm at 5:30am and the snooze going off at 5:39am.

Oh yeah. It's a ride day.

Stumbling from bed, I had put on some clothes, made my way down the hall, checked the outside temp (warm), then headed downstairs.

I changed clothes again - this time into bike stuff.

I loaded the bike, dog and headed down the road. It was dark - really dark. There were no stars, no moon, and no sun. I drove in a haze.

The one car that followed me I thought was a cop and would surely pull me over for driving while asleep.

At the lake, I unloaded, lit up and road off into the woods.

When everything is black as black except for the small ethereal light in front of you, and you're half asleep, you spend a lot of time wondering if the ride is really happening or are you fidgetedly dreaming it back in bed?

A near miss of a rock here or a slight brush against a tree - was that real or did I just twitch against the sheets?

Then it's time to climb. My breathing gets labored and I start to sweat. This seems pretty real. This feels like it hurts, but how many times have I woken in a sweat and breathing hard with a leg cramp or something?

Overall it was a good ride. Just becomes a chore having to do it so early and so dark.

- b