It’s a Sunday. I traded training days this week–instead of doing my long ride on Saturday and my midlength ride on Sunday, I did my midlength ride on Saturday and I’m doing my long–this time, 40 miles–ride on Sunday morning. It’s also a day when I want to go to Sunday morning service (starting at 9 am) and I have a couple of other commitments, meaning there’s just one time to get this ride in: 5 am.

What does this ride look like?

It starts off the night before, really–a bit of bike maintenance, laying out clothes, freezing water bottles (one of my routine “tricks”–the water melts over time, and stays cold longer, although by the end of hour one, it’s pretty much just “road” temperature), and considering what route to take. And making sure to get to bed early enough to have enough rest.

It then starts off dark in my hometown of Kane’ohe, Hawai’i.

What time I started

For me, the first mile is a slight uphill, then a bit of flat, followed by a slight rise, and onto Kahekili Highway, headed toward the historic Hygenic Store (I still don’t know why it’s called that), then a turn back toward Kane’ohe town where it started, alongside He’eia Ke’a Pier where my dad’s ashes are scattered (always good for a quick spot to reflect and use the bathroom), and up a short rise back toward Windward Mall.

When the sun’s rising, it’s through Kane’ohe town, then down Kane’ohe Bay Drive (a pretty fast downhill) to Kailua, where there’s a lot of flat roads up until Keolu Drive, where I headed up a pretty steep hill, stopping halfway, doing a quick pit stop for some G2 at the Kailua 7-11 (G2 may not have been designed for diabetic endurance athletes, but it’s great for them–for us), then turning around and heading back down to Kailua town.

Nothing better for a cyclist with diabetes--or any athlete with diabetes--than G2.

Finally, it’s back up Kane’ohe Bay Drive for a long grind of a hill, back to Kane’ohe town, where a fast stretch leads to the last mile before home, and a quick downhill to cool down.

All of that done, and before 8 am7:40 am. Plenty of time to get to service and do the rest of my Sunday errands, and had it not been for a headset problem that I spent 30 minutes fixing, I could have made service too. Oh well, next week!