There’s something meditative about solo cycling — especially in the early morning, when the world hasn’t fully woken up. The steady rhythm of the pedals, cool air on your skin, the soft crunch of gravel beneath your tires — it all blends into a quiet kind of presence. It was on one of these bike rides, camera slung over my shoulder, that I saw it: a flash of golden-yellow leaves clinging to spindly branches, glowing softly in the backlight of a spring sky.