A Journey of Faith

With the snow over the weekend, I didn't get to ride, and being busy, the past two days have slipped past without any exercise. I am starting to feel it. To tell the truth, yesterday I was at church helping construct the set for our Easter musical, so I got plenty of exercise, believe you me! But last night I set the alarm fifteen minutes early to have time to ride the distance I have most recently accomplished before Shawn had to leave for work.
Since we have gone to Daylight Savings Time it is dark at 5:30 in the morning again, and was still dark at 6:20 when I got home. I don't have a headlight on my bicycle. Living in the semi-country, there are street lights only sporadically along the route, and the sidewalk was bathed in in darkness, even when a car went by. Put these elements together, and I truly had a journey of faith. Our sidewalks were poured years and years ago, and with settling, the seams sometimes get drastic, so the ride is an adventure in the daylight, much less total darkness.
And to top it all off, we have a man living somewhere near who rides to work every day on his bike. I heard him go by, as I was preparing to leave, but didn't think too much of it, because he rides every day. He is used to it, and in much better shape than I am. But I still caught up to him about half a mile away. I didn't want to bother him with trying to get by, so I went out on the road to get around him. No problem, because there was no traffic to speak of. But then I realized that there were no more driveways, and the only way back onto the sidewalk was down at the federal prison, so I was on the road longer than I meant to be. But get this, I caught up with Mr. Bicycle Man because he was riding quite slowly, and I needed to go around him so I could get my work out. But after another half a mile, I realized he was RIGHT BEHIND ME! The adrenaline of fear translated to pedals made me fly. I left him in the dust. But not before he tried to have a conversation with me. I completely ignored him because 1.) I couldn't hear what he was saying over the music in my ears, and 2.) he was freaking me out, and I didn't want to talk to him, anyway. When I got to the traffic light under a blazing street light, I stopped and let him go on ahead. I waited, and waited, and waited some more, and then I went on. Would you believe it, but I caught up with him in about a block? Which means he was waiting for me. So I just stopped. I waited and watched, as cars went past him, his progression until he was halfway to the next light, before I went on. Then I got in the rest of my ride. So Mr. Bicycle Man has now earned the new name Mr. Creepy Bicycle Man, and I will never ride in the dark again.