The highlight of this morning’s commute, and one that easily made up for the large bus passing within 2′ of my left arm at 45+mph, was the sunrise. It was absolutely gorgeous. I first glimpsed it as I turned left on 91st at Quivira to head east. As the sky began it’s journey from navy to light blue, slivers of bright red and orange glanced off the clouds. By the time I got to Metcalf, it was stunning in it’s brilliance. I’ve seen sunrises many many times while driving. Many were the mornings that such a sight greeted me on the way into KC from Lawrence on K10, but there is something about being outside that makes the sunrise so much more affecting. In hindsight, I feel sorry for those people in cars who had neither the time, nor probably the inclination (though I may assume too much there) to really take it in and enjoy it.

It signified a renewed motivation for me, a rising above the illness that has plagued me for almost a month now. A rebirth of my flagging health, even. I feel great for the first time, really, since February 11th, when the first symptom of flu hit me. Almost a month later, and I’m still dealing with a little head congestion, but otherwise, it’s great to be back!

The temperature was just above freezing, and with almost no wind, it was a relaxed ride into work this morning. Of course, the near 0mph wind meant that I faced omni directional headwinds averaging about 12mph. I’ll never forget thee, oh 20mph tailwind of Monday morn!

Something Noah said yesterday helped. He mentioned that morning lows will “…remain well below freezing until the weekend…”. Though I already knew that, seeing it in writing brought me out of my funk a bit, and made me face the fact that this is how things are, and I can either ride it out and feel good about myself, or cave and suffer the self loathing that comes with bowing out.

My problem is I have come to realize that I just don’t care for cold weather riding. Cool weather riding is fine. Rain is great. But cold weather riding (sub 15°F) just doesn’t do it for me. I remember not long ago a man on Lamar saying to me “You’re a hard core biker!” as I rode past him. He was shoveling his driveway out from under 4″ of snow while I was struggling to stay rubber side down. That made me feel really great, and kept me motivated for days. I quickly tire of just cold weather, but snow and ice, freezing rain and high winds (though I may complain aplenty) excite me. Those provide real adversity against which I can claim a real struggle and eventual triumph. This basic 20-30°F stuff we have going on now is, frankly, boring. I’ve proven to myself that I can do it. I’m ready for something different now.

The fact remains, however, if I’m ever going to make up the miles I lost in February, I have to get out there. Tired and bored of the mediocre weather or not, I have to get out there.

This morning, thanks to the rising sun, I’m glad I did.