CyclePig

Photo by monirul pathan

If you are anything like me your motivation to get out and cycle goes up and down a lot. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and just can’t wait to get out there on the open road. Other times I have a severe case of ’snoozebuttonitis’…….

I’m lying their peacefully, dreaming of sun flowers and chocolate muffins (don’t think about it too much) and then suddenly my clock radio bursts into life. At first I merely stir. And then eager to get back to the muffins, my arm lifts and drops heavily on the offensive noise making machine that is my alarm clock.

Again there is peace. At least for 9 more minutes when the whole process repeats. I begin to gain some degree of consciousness and remember that I was planning to get up and go for a cycle. But maybe it was a mistake, maybe I set the alarm clock wrong and I actually have another hour to sleep. I slowly roll over and the red numbers force their way into focus and confirm my fears. My thoughts wander….perhaps it is Saturday and since I don’t have to go to work I have plenty of time. I lie there trying to remember what I did yesterday and then come to realise the horror of it. It’s not Saturday, it is actually Monday and the start of another work week.

I then start to think about the bike ride - perhaps it’s raining outside, spring has only recently arrived so it’s probably too cold, my legs feel heavy and I don’t want to risk overtraining. I contemplate pulling the covers over my head and ignoring the realities of the world.

But then I feel that small spark of enthusiasm as I remember what it’s like to ride my bike, how it clears my head and prepares me for the day, of the places it allows me to go and the people I meet along the way.

I drag myself out of bed knowing that the apprehension I feel will melt away as I accelerate my bike down the road. To reward myself for completing the ride, I stop of at the local bakery on the way home to get myself a chocolate muffin…YUM!