Strava says 0.85 miles in 4 minutes. The data’s glitched — GPS probably grabbed a chunk of the bike ride that happened at the same time. These things overlap sometimes when you’re switching between activities at 4 AM and your phone is doing its best. “Cirice” was still playing. Same Ghost, same darkness, same July morning that hasn’t decided to…

Another pre-dawn ride. 4:47 AM, two and a half miles, Ghost on the speakers. “Cirice” into “Jigolo Har Megiddo” — that’s a specific kind of darkness to pedal through at almost 5 in the morning. Same route as Tuesday probably. Same distance, same elevation, same twelve minutes. The consistency of someone who has exactly one loop they ride and they…

Another pre-dawn ride. 3:47 AM, same route, same distance, two days later. The consistency of it — not impressive consistency, just the stubborn kind where you keep doing a small thing because stopping feels worse than continuing. Ghost on the speakers this time. “Cirice” opened with that riff that sounds like a cathedral collapsing in slow motion, and “Jigolo Har…

Morning ride. Ghost again. Five tracks, twelve minutes, the same 2.6-mile loop that the legs know by muscle memory now. July 12th, two days after the last one, same route, same band, same heat. Consistency isn’t exciting. It’s not supposed to be. It’s supposed to be there when the exciting stuff isn’t. STATS 🚴 Ride — Morning ride 📏 2.60…

Morning ride with the strangest playlist of the summer. David Bowie, a-ha, Eddie Money. The shuffle reached back to the ’80s like it knew something about the rider the algorithm shouldn’t. 2.6 miles, thirteen minutes. Take On Me playing while taking on the same loop. Under Pressure while the Florida morning pressed down. Baby Hold On while holding on to…

3:33 AM. Two and a half miles on the bike. David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” playing in the dark. There’s a specific kind of quiet that exists at that hour in Pensacola — no traffic, no voices, just the chain clicking and the humid air sitting on your skin like a second shirt. A-ha’s “Take on Me” came on next and…

3:33 AM bike ride. Two and a half miles. “Space Oddity” playing as I rolled out into the dark. There’s a version of Pensacola that only exists between 3 and 5 AM — empty intersections, the streetlights doing that sodium-orange thing, and you’re the only moving object for blocks. Bowie into a-ha into Eddie Money. The playlist had “Take Me…

Same ride, same Circle K, same Gatorade. Strava double-logged this one — GPS hiccup or maybe I hit record twice. Either way, the ride happened. 5.53 miles in the Pensacola midday heat for a cold drink from a gas station. Still had the Metal Gear V playlist going. “Gloria” kicked things off, “The Man Who Sold the World” carried the…

Strava recorded this ride twice. Same Circle K run, same Gatorade, same Metal Gear soundtrack. GPS hiccup or phone being weird — either way, the ride only happened once but the data says otherwise. Leaving it up because it’s kind of funny. The algorithm thinks I was so committed to hydration I did it twice. Five and a half miles…

Gatorade run. 5.5 miles to Circle K and back because hydration is a lifestyle and sometimes that lifestyle requires a bicycle and eleven songs. The Golden State Sunshine Singers, Thin White Ziggy, The Punk Rock Movement — a cover band playlist for a cover story. Nobody rides five miles for Gatorade. You ride five miles because the body needs to…