Week Two - Day Two

TIME THERE: 28 min.
TIME BACK:27 min.
WEATHER: clear, 7C, 6 km/hr wind there; partly cloudy, 21C, 9 km/hr wind back.
WHAT I WORE: Yoga pants, t-shirt, waterproof shell. (should have worn gloves!)
NOTES:
It has begun. The past few days I've noticed that it's still dark when my alarm goes off at 6:30 am, and a week before it was still a bit light out. The rising sun chases off the night's darkness by the time I leave the house, but it's coming, I can feel it - it won't last long. The rising sun was low enough in the sky this morning to blind me for half my commute. Before I know it, I will be leaving my house in darkness in the morning and biking to school guided by safety lights. Feeling the chill in the air this morning, seeing my breath form ice crystal clouds before me, I could already sense the impending frost that will soon cover the grass during my morning rides. I can already imagine it, feel it coming on - fall is here, and winter is very soon to follow.

But, I've gotta say - WOOOOOO!!! It feels good to be back in the saddle!

That tune-up over the weekend did wonders for my bike - it's completely solid now, the gears shift easily and predictably, and the ride was noticeably easier and faster. When I got to work this morning I felt refreshed, awake, and alive. Today, I feel truly grateful that despite my best efforts over these past years to abuse my body with an unhealthy lifestyle, it's still capable of speed and fitness and health. I am able-bodied, and I am very thankful that I have the gift of health that allows me to commute and to use my body while I still can.

By the end of the day yesterday I started feeling a cold coming on. My throat was dry and sore and I was kind of mucousy, and I kept waking up throughout the night trying to swallow but finding my throat so sore that I could not. When I woke up this morning, despite my eagerness to get back on the bike, I immediately started making excuses not to commute today - I don't feel well, my throat hurts, I'm already parched and the cold air will only make things worse! I chose to ignore myself and commuted anyway, chewing a piece of gum the whole way so I could keep my saliva going and hopefully help lubricate my throat. I discovered that by the time I got to school, I felt better than I had when I left the house, and that maybe all that blood-pumping and heavy breathing helped boost my body's immune response to whatever it is that's ailing me. Maybe this will be a year of great health - fewer colds and sinus infections, which since my pregnancy I've been battling much too frequently - and higher immune functioning! That's a potential benefit of biking I'd never even considered before - fewer sick days?? Here's hoping!

In the end, it really surprised me just how much I had missed bike-commuting for those few days when I didn't do it. I love it. I love the speed, the rush, using my body, challenging myself, and breathing all that fresh air. And my fellow commuters - what a little secret society we have! Smiling at each other as we pass each other on the streets, knowing that we share in this secret joy, knowing that all those people in the cars beside us listening to the news and getting stressed out from the traffic have no idea how happy they could be if they just got out of their cars and into a saddle.

Giddy up, cowboy.