In the Stillness of the Early Morning

The alarm rang at 4:00.  I was slow getting out the door, but was out in 75° F very humid conditions by 4:30 for a quiet, solo ride to the Rusty Bridge … the long way.  I rode up to BWI and along the way argued with myself about the results of pushing my saddle back about half an inch.  At first, I could feel my sore knee more, and it felt as though everything was slower.  As I got into my rhythm, my speed came up and heart rate dropped.  My reach was better.  The bike seemed to fit better.  And I hummed along merrily, encountering very few cars on the road.  As I continued along the way, I decided to go to BWI airport … at least the park just on the southern end of the airport and then remembered that there were two Strava segments that needed to have me on the leaderboard.

The first was heading north from the park along the trail.  It was dark.  Bunnies were out.  The trail weaves and snakes through the dense trees and did I say it was dark.  I pushed it and indeed set a personal record.  Average speed was 20.4 mph.  I now rank #71/1121 on this very popular Strava segment.

I backed off and took it easy as I moved south, deciding to take the trail back from Glen Burnie to hit the Strava segment behind Marley Station Mall.  I kicked it hard as I hit the start of that segment and pushed all the way through the half mile of the timed path.  In the end, another personal record was established (21.7 mph avg) and I’m ranked #8/1211, and more importantly tied for the lead among the SPP riders.

When I arrived at the Rusty Bridge for the regular 5:45 ride, I was drenched in sweat and had over 17 miles in for the day.  I was hoping that the ride wouldn’t be a repeat of the last 2 Tuesday morning rides, with a very fast pace.  When all were gathered (10 of us), no one was really interested in a fast ride, so we simply rode easy and talked.  We still moved along quickly, but as has been true the past two weeks, my heart rate dropped down into a zone that could be held for hours with no real consequence.

A few of us then stopped at the coffee shop, made some transportation plans for the Lake Ontario Lap, and with reluctance pushed off for the rest of our day.

When I was finished, 33.3 miles were added and my average rolling speed was acceptable.

It was a nice morning.

Bible Verses of the Day:

All winged insects that walk upon all fours are detestable to you. (Leviticus 11:20 NRSV) Including the one that got lodged into my helmet this morning!

Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, (Romans 9:32 NRSV)