My average commute to work is 12+ miles, quite hilly, and takes around an hour, sometimes more depending on the route and just how well my legs are turning. I don't own a car, so I don't have the option of saying "I'll drive to work today", my only option is cycling. I could get a train, which would take me to a station about 5 miles from my workplace, and when I started work, I considered this as an option for particularly wet mornings, though it hasn't yet occurred to me to do it. I'd have to set off around the same time anyway, and would probably get there later, so is it really worth the extra expense? I could walk, of course, but that would take around 3 hours, and as I start work at 8am, it would mean leaving the house at 5. Not practicable, really.
My wife usually wakes me up with a cup of tea around 5.30am, and has my cycling gear ready for me, so it's just a question of getting some breakfast, usually just a bowl of cereal and a second cup of tea, checking and packing my pannoier with tools, lunch, uniform etc and getting out there.
It's a little easier now it's light at 6.30am. It was quite an effort when it was still dark, but to watch the sunrise as I cycle along is a joy which makes it all worthwhile.
I take my ipod with me. I do not consider this dangerous, as I don't have it loud enough to cancel out any traffic noise. On the main road I usually pop out the right earpiece so I just have background music or spoken word in my left ear and traffic noise (if there is any) in my right. I don't always have it on, sometimes the silence and the birdsong is enough.
Attitude is a major factor first thing in the morning. I don't allow myself a single moment of negativity. I concentrate completely on the positive aspects of cycling to work, the fact that my body will be getting a good workout, the fact that I will be filling my lungs with fresh air, the fact that I will in all likelihood see a spectacular sunrise, the fact that I have a whole hour of complete and utter solitude - a rare and luxurious thing for the father of 4 young children!
Even though I know my journey time is about an hour, I try and set out as near to 6.30am as possible, 6.45 at the very latest, so I don't have to rush. If I'm half an hour earlier into work, that's 30 minutes of lovely peace and quiet with a cup of tea before the others arrive and it all kicks off.
I start slow. I have arthritis in my hips and knees, and they're a bit stiff and creaky first thing. Any attempts to get them to move faster than they want to results in quite serious pain, so I let them find their own comfort level.
I pray as I cycle. Cycling is a rhythmic exercise, and repetitive prayer mantras are ideally suited to the rhythm of cycling or walking.
I'm a Christian, and I use Christian prayers and chants, but we can all pray however we want. I start with The Lord's Prayer, simply because I know it so well, and repeat that a few times. Then the Jesus Prayer, which is another one ideally suited to repeating over and over:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
The Christian mantra "Maranatha", which is Aramaic for "Come, Lord", and is just 4 syllabes of equal length. After that I let the prayer go where it will.
As a follower of 24/7 prayer, I find filling up an hour with prayer quite easy, and it is easy when you do it regularly - like everything, it gets easier with practice.
For me the importance of the prayer aspect cannot be overstated. I need that time of prayer to start my day - were I working at home, I would still pray, though probably not for an hour - it's much more difficult at home to sit quietly for that amount of time. You may not need this to start your day, but what you do need is something to take your mind off those hills! Maybe a song to sing (either aloud or in your head) or a tune to whistle, anything to distract you from dreading that hard climb ahead!
I'll deal with tackling those hills in a separate post.
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