What a glorious morning

It was 68° when I left the house this morning at 7:30 am, and a glorious morning at that. Over the next two hours, I rode my bicycle with a group of riders starting from Carolina Triathlon on Woodruff Road, through rolling countryside and farms that took me on a pleasant and grueling route for 30.87 miles – pleasant to begin with, but a struggle to just make it back. It’s easy to forget that just a few miles off that busy suburban boulevard is a reminder of what more of Greenville used to look like, and why our city is so aptly named. I loved taking a moment to look up from the bicycle I was trailing behind by a few inches to admire the green, pastoral farms with cows, horses, and roosters in the morning.

This is what I was thinking for the first hour or so, with the cool air blowing past me as I sped down those curvy hills at 30+ miles per hour. It was a great feeling, especially after a somewhat tense week at work. Of course, since I proved that I am as out of shape as I thought I might be, that great feeling turned to an aching back, screaming legs, and a general lack of feeling sous la derrière. In the end, it didn’t matter that I was one of the last to return, I was just glad to get out there, enjoy the feeling of exercise and leisure riding, and feel the wind blowing around me. And to me, I felt like the wind was at my back the whole time.

Disclaimer: No, that's not me riding there, but I haven't had any good pictures taken of me on a bike yet.