We were away attending to family commitments last week, and when we returned, it seemed that winter had arrived all of a sudden. The days are short, the sun is low, the light is dim, and the temperature struggles to reach double figures. If there were leaves on the trees it would seem darker still, but as the wind has torn most of the leaves from most of the trees, then the weakened sunlight can work its way through. But it doesn’t stay light for long.
There’s always a challenge aspect to winter riding. Cold muscles don’t perform as well as warm ones, so it always seems like hard work. The sheer quantity of clothes you need to wear feel like a handicap in themselves. And even if the weather is dry, it doesn’t mean that the roads will be dry too, as water from past rainstorms pools in the roadway and can hang around for days if the fields are too saturated to allow water to drain away.
To get out in winter, motivation can be key. Good weather provides its own motivation but if the weather is inclement then I find that the best motivation is the company of good friends. If I have neither of these encouragements then I have my fallback motivation of my real and desperate need to ride, whatever the conditions, when I have been off my bike for too long.
That was how I felt yesterday. One of those pesky winter viruses has had me down (my husband too) and I can’t even say I’m fully over it. But I set out into a cold and dull day, glad that the morning’s rain had passed. I found minor lanes to be close to impassable, so much water lay on them, and so I reverted to main roads (which are not busy around here).
Soon I found myself in an avenue of oak trees, still clinging to their leaves, but dropping enough to leave a bronze edging to both sides of the road and brightening the otherwise straw and grey coloured verges. The trees themselves, sturdy and magnificent, were swathed in a cloak of rich bronze with shards of red giving form and depth. My phone camera couldn’t catch a fraction of it.
The promise of reward is always a good motivation. And in the absence of any other encouragement, then that promise is the one which gets me out on my bike in all seasons, all temperatures, and even on my own, in inclement weather.
