I didn’t plan to go out today. In fact when I finally got myself out of bed, I had every reason not to go out. The sky was to dark, the bike wasn’t fit for me. I wasn’t comfortable on it. There was no reason to get out of bed. I wasn’t working toward a goal. I needed more time in bed. I hadn’t eaten a big enough dinner. I was hungry. There was to much traffic on the road. I wouldn’t be able to see. I had many excuses. Yesturday, the excuses were compounded by the fact that the bikes were not ready. Today that was not the case. At some point during the morning, I walked over to the closet and slipped in to my cycling jersey. I didn’t have a plan as to where to go or what I would be doing. All I knew was that I was going to cover 20+ miles today. I slipped on my heart monitor, cycling shorts, gym shoes and camel pack and headed out the door. With a slip of my foot in to the toeclips and straps I was off. The first climb was nothing special. ON my road bike, I would have to exert a small amount of effort to ascend. On the gravel bike, it was like the 1% gradient was flat. I didn’t even feel the road beneath me. According to my heart monitor I wasn’t exerting any effort. I might as well have been standing still. By the time I reached the top of the hill, I started the GPS and headed over on to my regular route. I would head up a pair of stair step hills before a long gradual descent to a traffic light. At the light I would have the choice. A left turn would send me up the road 10 miles. After which I would have to the oppourtunity to descend at a break neck speed. This would be fun, if I had confidence in the bike. To the right would be the route that I had completed many times before. This route I knew. This route was easy. It contained fewer hills, and ended with a monstrous climb up a major state road. The worst case secenrio would be that I have to walk back to the house. If that were to happen, I would only be 5 miles from my front door. This was the preferred option. As I rode, little flickers of light off in the distance let me know of the other riders on the road. Clearly morning was the best time to get out on the road. The cars were still in their driveways. The air was cool. The wind was steady. It was like walking in to a painting of a sunrise an being able to smell the air. The trees against the rising sky formed shapes that can be easily mistaken for something mystical. I passed other cyclist traveling in the opposite direction. Most of which were riding mountain bikes or something akin to a time trial or tri-bike. It was nice to see people out pedaling like me. It made me feel like I wasn’t alone. That is until I noticed that they were in pairs. I didn’t let this discourage me. As the ride was approaching the 17 mile marker, I didn’t think that ending the ride were I normally would, would give me the distance I was looking for. I pedaled on, circling the neighbhorhood until I reached my desired 20 miles. I didn’t plan to get out and ride today. But I am glad that I did.