The first three miles are on the road - a main road, but most of the traffic is heading into town so I sail past the queues in the opposite direction. After a mile or so downhill it flattens out, and then slowly starts to creep upwards. I admit this bit is quite tedious, but in just twenty minutes I'm faced with this.
It also marks the start of the mud.
After two or three miles through the woods I reached the road again. A quiet road for the first mile or two, and mostly downhill, so I stood up on my pedals and sailed along singing to myself as I headed towards the city. Not a bad start to the day at all.