While you were sleeping ...

        A full moon's glow cast soft shadows on the 4 a.m. darkness, as 1,500 local bicyclists began a 17-mile journey Sunday from silent Cincinnati streets to sunrise on the Ohio River.

        This was no race. Even organizers weren't sure who finished firstbecause that wasn't the point.

        Billed as the 20th annual Morning Glory Ride, sponsored by the Miami Group Sierra Club, the event drew a sprinkling of bicycling enthusiasts but the majority of participants were simply bike riders with a willingness to get up early.

        Real early.

        The youngest rider (OK, passenger) was 2; the oldest was 73. The grand marshal was WKRC-TV weatherman Steve Horstmeyer. Door prizes, including cycling shop certificates, accompanied post-ride breakfast near the Serpentine Wall.

        “Our only regret is that we didn't have our kids with us,” said Leigh Smith, 41, and his wife, Elizabeth, 40, of Hyde Park.

        The Smiths lived in Denmark for a year, where they grew accustomed to a network of elevated bike lanes along roads. They got up at 3:30 a.m. Their sons, Christian, 11, and Hugh, 8, slept in.

        Typical kids. But the typical kid at Sunday's event was more like Ryan Laber, 8, of Fort Thomas. The alarm clock was still quiet when Ryan woke up at 3:10 a.m. — on his own.

        He shared breakfast on the bank of the Ohio River with his father, Mike Laber, 44, who said the ride was “a unique experience, to ride the streets in a controlled event, with the peace of the morning.”

        Ride organizer Kathy Colletta said the goal was to attract families. Registration exceeded 1,500 this year, having been cut off at 1,500 last year. Two years ago, 1,250 participated.

        The ride began and ended at Sawyer's Point, with cruises through Newport, Covington, the East End, Mount Lookout Square, Hyde Parkand past the Krohn Conservatory.

        Selecting a most memorable spot was hard for some but easy for Bethany Vondran, 30, and her father, James Jackson of Williamsburg, Va.

        “In Mount Lookout,” she said, “there were about 10, 15 kids out on the porch. I think they'd been up all night. They were yelling (encouragement) at us. I think they'd been partying.”

        Save for the Mount Lookout group, and the occasional motorist or early-morning jogger, the only other people on the streets at 4 a.m. were the volunteers who directed riders with flash lights.

        “Riding at night,” said Greg Southerland, 23, of Bridgetown, who rode with three friends, “it's just more peaceful.

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