Like most people, I like to sleep. Lazy Sunday mornings, lounging around the house drinking coffee and watching the news shows, talking about maybe going out to see that new movie this afternoon ... I like these things as much as the next guy.
I told a friend that I was out riding before 6 am this morning, and he gave me a look and asked, "Why would you want to get up at that un-godly hour?"
- Because I can ride on Edmondson Pike with almost no traffic.
- Because I can come around a corner by the agriculture center near Crieve Hall and startle birds on the road, apparently eating seeds that have blown there, so that they fly all around me.
- Because it validates Panera Bread's decision to open at 6 am when I come in and buy a scone, a coffee, and my three-seed demi.
The three-seed demi just fits in the bar bag
- Because I can ride right through downtown Brentwood with almost no traffic.
- Because, going down Wilson Pike, I still startle a white-tailed deer crossing the road.
- Because the temperature is still bearable 30 miles into my ride, even if the humidity has made me very sticky.
- Because there are turkeys out on McDaniel Road, just north of Hwy 840, and one of them will run across the road while another flies up into the trees (yeah, they really can fly).
- Because I'll see lots of other cyclists about this time trying to get in a ride before it gets really hot, including my friends Tom and Judy Spears on their tandem, and we wave and yell hey at each other like we're sharing a special secret that a lot of other people wouldn't understand.
I used to go to church on Sunday morning, attending services of various denominations. None of them gave me the peace and connection to a higher being than I feel than when I am out in nature riding a bicycle. Things feel right then.
5:15 am. Un-godly? No, it's exactly the opposite.
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