Five Miles Before Meals?

My road bike looks nothing like this. In fact, at this very moment, my road bike is in the shed and it is probably covered with dust and frozen spiders. It's winter here.

My stationary bike, however, is not covered with dust or spiders. It's in a warm spot where I can get to it easily and ride it in preparation for breaking the road bike out in the spring, Lord willing.

I'm not a morning person. Quite the opposite. This morning, however, I woke up at 4:45 a.m. and felt like doing something, even if it was wrong. I decided to ride the exercise bike.

Five miles before breakfast isn't part of my usual routine, even when I wake up late, but it worked this morning, with the help of a few apple slices, a tablespoon of peanut butter for fuel, and some lemon-infused water. I will try to do another five miles before lunch, and perhaps supper. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. I have to knit together over 8,000 words to finish the novel today. Yesterday, I left the book's characters playing a human-sized chess game at a castle in New York state, while trying to outsmart a criminal. I'm sort of curious as to how they're getting along. Maybe I'll have them row a boat or something. If they do exercise, does it count against my daily quota?