Sunday Morning

Got up at 5:30, did stretches, pushups, and situps. Put on some sweatpants (slept without pants; it was a hot night), a jacket, gloves and my helmet, and went outside. The sun was just rising outside, and the moon was up too, a bit more than half-full. The sky was cloudless. The air was cool but not cold, and a bit damp. Birds and squirrels were everywhere.

Got on my bike and rode over to drop off a book I was done reading. Hope I got the right house! Couldn't quite remember which one it was. Then I rode down Yale to the bike path, and up to the trestle.

I climbed up to the trestle and began walking. I could see the meadow and the stream far, far below. I walked briskly and surely, but not too quickly. The bell tower and the water tower were in the distance, the meadow was below, the woods surrounded everything, and the sun rose in the clear, bright blue sky. There was nowhere else I would rather have been at that moment.

I reached the end and walked back to the other side (I had left my bike there, after all). I rode along the bike path, then down into the woods. I tried to ride over a big log, but I wasn't riding fast enough, so my wheel caught and I smacked my knee on the handlebars. Ouch! But the pain was sweet, not bitter. Then I realized I had gone off the trail and would have to pull my bike up the hillside, which was very steep and covered with loose dirt and leaves. My knee complained mightily when I bent it the wrong way, but after much struggling and slipping, I was back on the trail.

I came across a man washing his face in the creek, with his tent nearby. I wanted to greet him, but the silence of the forest said more than I could -- he already knew what I wanted to tell him. I walked out of the woods and onto the road. My knee was kind enough to allow me to ride with little pain, and this I did.

I rode up Hillborn, then down Ogden to Riverview. On Riverview, I shifted into the highest gear I had, crouched low over the handlebars, and pedaled like mad down the hill, stop sign be damned! The air and road rushed by, faster and faster. Pure ecstasy! Slowly I coasted to a stop at the bottom of the hill.

I rode briefly on Swarthmore, then turned onto Yale, which was carless and wonderful. Then down Park, past Nick's house, with his professor parents' twin New York Times Sunday Editions out front in matching blue plastic bags. I turned left onto Harvard, then right onto Rutgers, and made a quick right into my driveway. I put my bike in the shed, walked into my house, fired up the computer, and wrote this. Now I'm done, and all that remains are a few memories, a sore knee, and a big grin.

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