Tune Into the A.M. Volume One

In an attempt to call it an early night last evening, I became erroneous in my aims of going to sleep at my designated bedtime of 11:00 p.m.. Teeth brushed and P.J.'s on at eleven, I ventured through my pre-sleep routine of my Bookmarks Toolbar. At a loss of interesting, or updated, information through my websites of choice, I clicked a link on the Superb Bicycle blog, and noticed their own selection of preferred links. Upon the first five links was Bostonbiker.org. Initially, I figured I'd scroll through the news section of the page, read some updates on events/bicycle related topics concerning Boston, and call it a night. I thought wrong.

Boston Biker's site led me over to Boston Bike Polo's blog where I proceeded to learn more about that and where it takes place in the city. An appealing option to traditional Polo and cycling in general. Regardless of what I learned here, I was led to the Boston Fixed Gear Forum, a place I've visited once before. Quite briefly at that, as most bike forums spend five comments actually discussing the problem or question at hand and 2000 plus comments dissing on someone's whip. I scrolled through the discussion where I discovered "The Ride to Work/School/Wherever Thread." Reading over the various, fall related morning commutes I was psyched to hear about everyone's early morning commutes. The discussion swayed from face-melting through the underpass on Mass Ave. to simply cruising along Memorial Dr.. Spanning a time frame of 20 days, each post mentioned the glorious feeling of the cool autumn air and the freedom of the low commuter/cyclist ratio.

Inspired by the notion of having a gorgeous early ride through the city without the qualms of being struck by a car going through the Mass Ave. underpass at Huntington Ave. Following this triumph of mental cycling pleasure as I imagined what it would feel like to cruise across the city unadulterated by the threats of ignorant pedestrians and crazed commuters, I set my alarm for 5:50 a.m. and got a pot of coffee ready.

Crawling into bed just after 12:30 a.m. with two alarms set I missed the opportunity to fall completely asleep as the feeling of complete fatigue disappeared an hour and a half before. Drowsing off sometime before my wake up call, I faded in and out until my alarm clock radio went off. Hitting the floor promptly at 5:53 a.m., I took my ritual morning urine, flip the coffee pot to on, and began organizing my pack.

Aware that I wouldn't be out much long than an hour, I packed simply. A digital camera, 35mm SLR, and a U-lock were the only tools I needed for the trek. With jeans, a hoodie and a flannel on, what a feeling of warmth and cold, I set my bike lights to "on" and began my journey. Passing several joggers in front of the house, the suns rising illuminated the Mission Hill Church spires in a strange, crepuscular glow. Behind the church, clouds began to break as early dawn crept over. Light was still quite dark, street lights remained on and the traffic was low, very low. I pedaled towards the hilly side of Calumet, which goes steep and straight into Huntington. At full speed with no reserve, I pedaled hard into Huntington only letting out several skids for control. Blasting through the intersection without the panic of traffic swarming from all directions, my body snapped itself awake with exhilaration.

Each set of lights was a like a time challenge. A walk signal flashed it's countdown, a light turned yellow and I pedaled harder. Passing the MFA at maximum velocity, I raged through the intersection at Parker St. and began a cool down before the Mass Ave./Huntington Ave. underpass. A split second traffic check over the left shoulder and I was face melting under the pass sans hands and totally stoked.

I poked into Shaw's at the Prudential Center for some batteries and sent a gentle cruise down Boylston St. The morning light continued to breath life into the new day as pedestrians, cars and careerists became more abundant. I paused for a photo opportunity at the common before cruising towards Downtown Crossing and stopping at the Federal Building to shoot photo's/videos of people purchasing fruit from the cart. I had a brief, yet polite conversation with the vendor. He recommended I venture towards Fish Pier for some more shots of "Early Morning City Life." I purchased two bananas, said "thank you for letting me take some photos," and made my way out.

A strong headwind worked against me on Seaport Blvd., but I continued to pedal through the breeze. Setup and ready to shoot the fisherman unloading their cargo, packers filling boxes and trucks hauling the loads out for delivers, I was interrupted by a woman. Dressed in a red Massport crewneck, faded blue-jeans with spiky dyed-red hair and an abundant supply of makeup, she informed me I was not allowed to take photographs on Massport property. Strange. Leaving the Fish Pier for an even earlier attack in the near future, I went around to the Bank of America pavilion, at my banana, shot several more photo's and came home; slow, steady and stoked.