Riding at Dawn

When the alarm went off at 5:20AM this morning, I thought it was a joke. Alina hit the snooze button and we eventually rose from my bed at 5:30AM. Two days ago I heard about a bicycle training group that does morning rides during the week called shifting gears. They were formed from a bunch of AIDS Life Cycle riders (back when it was called the California AIDS Ride) who wanted to continue their training after the event was over. The only problem (is it a problem?) with their Tuesday rides is that they meet at 6:15 and start riding at 6:30AM. Ouch!

We got to the meeting point much earlier than everyone else. Some of the regulars were a little late today, so ended up leaving around 6:40AM. (What is that, 15 more minutes of sleep?) All was good, though.It was cold. My fingers felt frozen, and it was dark enough that I should have brought a back light. But the ride was beautiful. Apparently, many cycling groups do their daily training that early in morning (who knew?) and at various points, the size of the cycling crowd felt comparable to a critical mass event. Of course if I said that to the speed demons passing us on the way to the marina, it probably would have started a scuffle. There is so much competition among cyclists...

The best part about this ride, though, was watching the sun rise over the water as we headed to the bridge at the end of Ballona creek. The water may be dirty, but it sure is pretty to look at when the sky is pink and orange. There were rowing crews on both sides of the bike paths. It was gorgeous and made the 5:30 wake up time almost worth it. Almost. Maybe I'll be able to pull off an early morning ride again on Thursday.