Tuesday 10 March 2009

Are you a morning person?

Many of the cyclists that I know, regardless of whether they are road cyclists, mountain bikers, commuters, fitness-freaks, triathletes or whatever - do a lot of their riding in the morning. They crawl out of bed at sparrow-fart, ride into the sunrise and then head home for a shower and feed before going to work.

I've thought about doing that lately, but just can't get my head around it. After 4 years of commuting to work by bike, if I get on my bike at dawn, my head is hardwired to ride into the city and nowhere else. I can't get used to the idea of going for a ride at say 6am, and coming home an hour or two later. If I leave home at that time, my next place of call should be the office, not home again. It's actually turning into quite a psychological block.

On top of that, most nights consist of broken sleep thanks to two young kids. One needs feeding several times a night, and the other usually crawls into our bed somewhere between 2am and 5am, and spends the rest of the night fighting me for my pillow or asking for a refill of his bottle.

So I do all my riding in the middle of the day, or late afternoon. The mornings are just not for me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate 6am bike riders, especially the lycra-clad ones who think they're on the Tour de France at 50kph outside my marina gate.

They ride furiously on a pedestrian path when we early risers are stumbling off our boats to do the first ablutions of the day, still rubbing the sleepy sand from our eyes.

What is it about cyclists that you guys have no peripheral vision, especially concerning pedestrians?

We boating people have clearly defined rules about crossing and passing, but cyclists seem only to hurl abuse if someone crosses their path.

Come sailing, BOAB, it's much more relaxing than hating pedestrians and motorists.

cheers, mareeS

M said...

I'm so not a morning person. It's 8.40am, I've been up for 2 hours and 40 minutes and I feel like I'm ready for a nana nap.

So Bike riding/walking/running in the morning. Nope, not my thing.

Mind you I was in the rowing crew at school. How I managed those early starts I have no idea. Oh, yeah, that's right - the lure of a cooked breakfast.