What It’s Like to Balance Cycling & Work

5 AM rides are not for the weak of will

Disclosure: This article may link to affiliate sites/feature complimentary products for review purposes.
rear wheel bike at dawn
by torbakhopper

In his first article, our contributing writer, Curt, shows us exactly what it looks like to balance work and a serious training regimen. Riding at 5 a.m. shows guts, Curt. We like guts. Especially since we don’t have any ourselves . . . “cue complaints about brisk, early 10 a.m. mornings.”

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, slide, ugh. Nope, didn’t wake her up, great, now for the bladder attack, hope the door doesn’t squeak again, eeeeeekkkkk, gotta buy that graphite for that door one of these days.

This sound familiar? 5 a.m. alarm to get up and ride before work, trying not to wake up the wife. What else goes through your mind? Anything like this….

Do I grease up the nether regions?

Did I make a water bottle last night?

These shorts stink, oh well.

Do I really need my contacts this morning?

Where are my shoes?

Is this light charged?

Blinded by the light.

Where are those gloves?

Remember, turn on that app so If I drop dead, get run over, eaten by a dog etc. someone will know. Well, five minutes after anyway.

ID and Insurance card, check. Yes, insurance card, they’ll take me to a better hospital if I have it on me, right?

rear wheel bike at dawn
by torbakhopper

Jeez, I need to get rolling.

Which route?

Every route away from the house is uphill, dang it. (Really, every route is uphill, I’m not lying)

Read Also >>  Letting Go of Long Slow Distances - The Sufferfest Triathlon Training Diary

Climb, leg burn, back locks up a little all because I’m too cool to warm up.

Ok, breathe,  you are on the bike, it is all ok.

Remember, spin, we’ll get to the interval later.

These roads are awesome with no traffic.

Breaking dawn, no, not the movie people, sky is looking beautiful.

Interval! Time to jam.

I’m going to look up and watch the sky turn pink anyway.

Feel awesome now.

Wow, that car gave me room . . . amazing.

I love riding in the morning.

At least until this hill, crap.

Remember, gotta climb ’em to bomb ’em.

Am I back to the house already?

I swear I sleep on the bike.

Ok, stretch, eat, shower, shave and off to work.

Yeah, this feeling is why I do it, how ’bout you?

About Curt Denham 6 Articles
Curt Denham is one of SLO Cyclist's contributing writers, a dad, cyclist, Raiders fan, therapist and all around good guy ;)

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

UA-25394520-1