While the rest of the world sleeps

It was 5am, the world as I know it was fast asleep.  Not a peep from the kids, the wife just stirring and here I am about to set off.  I reckon even the foxes had decided enough was enough and it was time for bed.

Strangely, it is probably the best time to be on the roads in my mind.  There are no cars, so not nutty drivers with their heads in their mobile phones texting random bulls**t to god knows who while pretending to drive.  No trucks, buses or motorbikes adding endless amounts of toxic gases to my lungs.  No pedestrians walking 3 breast on a cycle/walking track?

Most of all, a serial peace that is even worth removing the headphones to listen to.  Listen to silence you say? Yes, listening to the silence has to be one of the best bits of cycling.  How often in modern life can you actually say you listen to nothing?  The only other time I get this feeling is sat on the top of a mountain just after last orders are called on the ski lifts and there is no-one left on the hills but you.

You have to savour the quiet, if for no other reason than to allow you enjoy the noise and excitement of the rat race even more when it comes.  I however, prefer the silence for silence sake, I like to talk and these moments allow me to think and ponder life, quietly and to myself.

That is until about 3 miles from work, at about 6am when the whole world slowly starts to wake up and dark, quiet, lonely commute starts to become a dark but noisy and busy journey once more.  Normality and reality sets in and my day begins.

If you find moments like these savour them, remember them and most of all be selfish and and enjoy them.  Its your time!

Some people think cycling can be lonely, sometimes though is that not "the whole point"