It is cold. In fact colder now as the windchill factor seeps through openings in my hastily affixed winter wrappings. I think about stopping to re-adjust my clothing, but my fingers would be too frigid to make a difference. I keep pedalling. Pedal stroke by pedal stroke, block by suburban block, my core is warming as I near the end of oft traversed roads and near the edge of the forest. The black bitumen in front of me drawing a sleek line up towards the inviting mass of O2 dispensing foliage that rises on the horizon to meet me.

With the sun now at double its diameter off the horizon, the first rays of warmth skim through the earths atmosphere and land on my face. I smile. I am at the forests edge now. A car passes on my left with it’s occupants safely encapsulated in their warm cocoon. A cocoon that keeps them from sensing the delightful smell of the dew touched evergreen pine needles glistening in the sun. A cocoon that hides from them the baby deer running alongside the road only feet behind the shoulder of the road, darting around and under and over scrub as I maintain my pedalling pace in wide eyed amusement.

Im warmer now, condensation from my breath filling the air in front of me before sweeping over the slipstream of my shoulders as my ride begins to take pace and  the possibilities of the ride ahead of me jump around inside my mind.

I know in 20 minutes i’ll be climbing. In 90 minutes i’ll be riding Highway 1 along the ocean, and in less than 5 hours i’ll be home. I’m thankful i took those first 2 pedal strokes, that let me take a million more….

ENJOY the RIDE!

My bike takes me to places i never dreamed