All too easily, we tell ourselves it’s OK to skip a planned ride because of interfering factors. Especially this dark, cold time of year, there’s no shortage of excuses, making it easy to not ride.

Tuesday’s sunrise with Mike Boggs at Mt. Baldy, the summit of the bicycle/pedestrian section of the Ridgeline Trail System (map).

I followed Mike up the trail yesterday (my first real test of the Volt300 as a trail light—results were illuminating). Besides the usual ways of making outdoor recreation actually happen (a schedule, the buddy system, rewards system, etc.), Mike shared with me this nugget of wisdom for for keeping two-wheeled promises to ourselves:

Gear up first thing out of bed.

Skip the cozy cotton and pull on your riding clothes before you even make coffee. Nothing like already being in your bibs to make you say, “If I don’t ride now, I’ll have put these on for nothing. Or running errands is going to be extremely awkward.”

So pick a day where you would normally sleep in, and, the night before, pick a favorite route, lay your shorts out at the foot of the bed and pump your tires before you brush your teeth. And when you catch a grand and beautiful sunrise, hear an owl’s hoot, or maybe just beat your best time up that one segment, thank Mike.