Success!

After a night of fitful sleep, the alarm started ringing at 5:05 AM. I got out of bed, but left the lights off. I could hear the breathing of my sleeping bride, and looking at the baby monitor, the only one awake was me. Still too dark to see, I groped my way around the room and located the clothes I had laid out the night before.

I dressed quickly, if not silently. Kissed my wife goodbye, and patted the sleeping dog's head before heading down the stairs.
5:17 am. Moving around the kitchen, I am going over the checklist in my head for the fourth time. I have 10 minutes before I will be late for my start. I look up and it is now 5:28. Where did 11 minutes go? I try an strech a little while downing a chocolate peanut butter PowerBar and drink some water.

The garage door opens and the cool morning air rushes in. The steel frame is clammy as I ease my bike down from its cieling perch. Its 5:40, and I am already late.

The darkness is no longer complete, but I wonder how well the drivers will be able to see me. I have a red blinking tailight, a LED white headlight, a bright yellow vest, and reflective striping on my tires. Still, the darkness and the hour of the day have me on edge. I come to the first light at Lititz Pike and have half a mind to ask the lone car driver if she saw me. Before I can, however, the light turns green and we are off.

As I whiz past the fields on my way toward York, the darkness is starting to give way to the dawn. Cars are passing, but giving me a wide berth, so my high visibility scheme must be working. As I roll through East Pete, I have more and more confidence of my riding ability. I can do this! Everything is going well, and I can see my first challenging hill in the distance. This is the one I hit 44 MPH riding down the previous Friday. The light is bright enough now, that I switch the headlight from steady to flashing.

Starting from a dead stop, I easily reached 12 mph. Thirty feet later, I am down to 10. Changing gears to get to the easier ratios does not improve the speed. Slowly it drops all the way down to almost 6 MPH! I can run fast than that. My breathing increases force, and I feel myself working hard to keep moving. Struggling, I finally reach the part of the hill where the steepness eases. My speed increases, but I feel deflated. As I roll through this hilly section of the ride, I think "Maybe I should have gone through town, instead of up over this nasty hill!"

Finally, I reach the crest of the final hill along this segment, and enjoy a nice, long downhill run to Mountville. As I pass over Route 30, I am recharged and feel better about the ride. Upon reaching Mountville, I join 462 and continue down in to Columbia. The landmarks come faster than I expect, and I am holding a steady 18-20 mph. I reach Columbia, and try to maintain the speed limit of 30 MPH, but have to be content with 20-25. However, I am starting to think about the next big hill on the other side of the river.

Crossing the Wrightsville Columbia Bridge, I am suprised to find that I am struggling a little to keep 20 mph. This could be due to the slight headwind. However, the sight of the Susquehanna being hit with the first rays of sun is breathtaking and inspiring. As I roll in to Wrightsville, I am ready for the start of another steep climb. However, compared with the wall I climbed earlier, this hill does not present much of a problem. I am counting down the miles to Brian's house in Hellam.

Brian and I were going to meet up at about 6:30 and ride to York together. I arrive at Brian's about 6:45 to find him dressed for work. He explained that he needed to bring home files for a trip, and so he'd be driving to work instead. No problem, but it was a bit of a downer. It did feel good to take a short break, however, and I drank a lot of water.

Back on the road, I found the rolling hills of York county to be challenging without breaking me. As I approached Route 24, the smell of Donuts fill the air. I felt like yelling out "Damn you Maple Donuts!!" but didn't. Instead, I started to focus on the drivers around me. It was now after 7 AM, and there was a lot more traffic on the road.

Market street from PA 24 to the I-83 interchange is a very busy stretch of road. There are several large strip malls, and two major home improvement stores. The road itself is a 4 lane road, but essentially no shoulders. I decided there was not so much traffic that they couldn't go around me, so I took the right tire rut as Mine. Again, people shared the road and I had no problems.

Westbound 462 turns after the I-83 interchange on to Philadelphia Street. It is a two lane, one way with cars parked on both sides. Again, I took the right tire rut as Mine. However, for about 2 blocks, there is a center median between the two lanes AND cars parked on both sides. With no room for cars to pass, I did the only thing I could do: the speed limit. I was able to maintain 26 mph through this strech, and didn't feel bad at all about taking a lane.

I arrived at my office at 7:20 AM. All told, it was 1 hour, 40 minutes on the bike. Showered, shaved and was dressed and ready for work by 7:35. I was a little sore, however, and very hungry! Had it been a normal day, I would have run for about an hour, and then driven 40 minutes to work. This way, I was able to work out for an hour and forty minutes while getting to work on time.

Looks like I will be able to work out full and 3/4 rides to and from work.