The perfect morning

It was the archetype of the perfect morning. Woke up shortly before the alarm at 5.10am, feeling reasonably awake. A Thursday morning meant Boundary riders and after almost 2 weeks of drizzly rain it was beautiful to step out the front doors of my apartment building onto a dry road. No wind and a temperature just right for feeling slightly chilly in a t-shirt and shorts before warming up.

The bike felt light and the legs spun easily up the highway as I was joined by Trent, India and Phil at one set of lights and we cruised to the start together. It was one of those mornings where everything comes together, the pace was just a bit faster than I’m comfortable with so I had to work a bit to keep up but my concentration flowed easily and my body felt so good. I managed to push well on the hills and in the pace line and largely keep up along Military Road and in no time 1 ½ hours and 40km were done.

As I cruised down my street I saw my car parked outside the corner deli so whipped around and caught Sarah buying her soy flat white and croissant for her drive to work, it’s always so nice when our paths cross like that and we can connect for a few minutes at the start of the day.

At home the cats were all over me as I quickly packed my bag and grabbed my lunch, then spent 20 minutes doing all my physio exercises on a towel on the floor while listening to the latest “All in the Mind” podcast about new research into how the minds of insects work.

I headed out onto the balcony and it was one of those perfect mornings, warm but not hot, sun glinting off the harbour, everything smelt fresh and clean after all the rain and it was completely quiet except for birdsong and the slap of shoes as the odd runner jogged up the street. I meditated for about 10 minutes and amazingly was able to focus on my breath a lot better than usual.

Refreshed, I grabbed the single speed bike, patted the cats and scooted into work. After two weeks on wet slippery roads it felt sensational to be able to really speed along the dry asphalt with the sun warm on my back.

A shower at work and then sitting here eating a bowl of rolled oats, kiwifruit, mango, nectarine and strawberries with walnuts, cashews and almonds, reading my emails and preparing to start my day. Does it get any better than this?