No, nothing terrible happened on my Monday morning ride today. But the Grim Reaper DID play a role in it.

I couldn't wait to get out, so I left early with the temp at 62 and sunshine. My plan was to squeeze in the longer Three Bridges ride, which I did.

Along the way, once I crossed Loomis (my usual turnaround point) the sun ducked behind clouds. Now it was gray and kind of a cool nagging wind too. I started to whine about it in my head...'what...no sun...ah crap...kinda cool now...maybe I shouldn't have tried going this far...blah... blah, blah...

Then up ahead on my right I saw a line of parked cars in a place where there are never any cars. Sure enough, there was a burial taking place at the small cemetery across the street from where the Franklin MUP starts.

As I looked over to scan the black-dressed crowd around the casket I thought to myself how fleeting life actually is. Then it's over. Quit whining about no sunshine or distance and put your head down and ride.

So ride I did, enjoying every minute of the MUP which was now, by the way, was once again drenched in sunshine, as would be the case for the rest of the ride.

In the end it was glorious spring morning, with dandelions now in full bloom on the greening grass, and most trees now sprouting buds.

I spent my ride back into a little headwind pushing it tempo and felt great today. The 16.7 mph average speed is a season high for this route.

DO it. GET it. Use it while you can kids, and enjoy it, because it ain't gonna last forever. Just ask whoever it was that was in that casket today.