Everyone loves summer. It’s hard to argue with blue skies full of cotton-candy clouds, butterflies floating on the wind and nary a gangrenous, frostbitten limb in sight. I guess I can see the attraction. There’s a lot to be said for stepping out your door without having to weigh your risk of succumbing to hypothermia. But sitting here in bed, listening to the rain making angry sounds against my window, I’ve got to tell you, I’m not shedding a single tear over summer’s demise.
Right now, it’s cold, it’s wet, my shoes haven’t dried out in weeks and my gloves harbor a putridness that smacks of some entirely new and fierce kind of death… and I couldn’t be happier. If I could somehow spend every day of my life like this—immersed in a perpetual state of October and November—I’d sign up for it in a heartbeat. Why is that true? The answer is complicated. It’s not as if the riding is actually better now that the trails have turned bitter and sloppy cruel. Hell no. I’m a fan of keeping my blood inside my body and that’s been a real challenge of late. My already-questionable bike handling skills are all over the map, my sphincter in a perpetual state of pucker.
But there’s also a beauty to this moment in time. The mornings start out fierce and damp and cold, but at some point, the fog that hangs in the trees lures me outside. There’s a saying that comes to mind, “Bad weather always looks worse through a window.” Nothing has ever been more true. Even when it looks horrible out, strapping on my wet helmet and squeezing my feet into my soggy shoes are actually the worst part of the whole process. Within a few pedal strokes, I’ve stopped noticing the jungle rot that’s setting up camp between my toes. I even stop feeling the cold. As cozy as a warm house can be, a couple days spent inside one still wind ups feeling like days spent behind bars.
Out in the woods, under the canopy, I hardly even notice the wind or rain. It’s quiet here, save for the squelch of muddy tires and the rattle of chain on chainstay. Summer’s fair weather friends are gone. Everyone who thinks the great outdoors are only great when the weather is balmy and the trails are dry? Those people are sitting indoors, miserably cursing the “shitty” fall weather. Just waiting for the storm to clear and the sky to go all bluebird. In this corner of the globe, they'll be waiting till June. Good luck with that. I’m out here now, alone and happy. The cold air burns in my lungs as I churn sloppy circles and remember that even a cold, wet day on the bike is better than any day spent hunched at a desk or inside a climate-controlled cubicle.
I am slower, more sloth-like in winter. But that’s all right—fall is an understanding season that way because everything slows down in fall. Photosynthesis fell asleep at the wheel sometime back in September and the leaves are dropping. The salmon are sluggishly working their way up the creek, digging their spawning beds before taking their permanent nap. I stop and watch them run out the clock on the last bit of their lives. Because, why the hell not?
This is the cycle, this is fall. Things are no longer racing along, true, but they also don’t stop. And neither should you. If your riding has come to an end because summer has come and gone, you miss out on all this. The trails are still here. The woods are still here. They’re calling your name. And, you know what, they’re still damn fun to ride in.
Summer lulls you into thinking that every day is going to be sunshine and high fives and cold beers on the tailgate. Summer rolls into town every year promising you one long holiday of awesomeness and it swears the good times will never end. Summer, of course, is full of shit because every year there comes a day when you walk out your door and find that summer has skipped town when you weren't looking.
It's tempting to miss summer and pine for its return. It's the season when life is easy and the cotton is high, and all that jazz. Getting out there and riding through fall and winter? This requires something more from you, true, but doing so also rewards you in a way that summer never will. It’s all here right now: the mist in the trees, the rain dripping off the branches, a lazy shower of gold, red and orange leaves drifting down. You can have summer. I can take or leave that particular season. But fall? I’m a sucker for fall.
MENTIONS: @vernonfelton /
@Laurence-CE /
@Dermott
Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY
Excellent, original content again Monsieur Felton, Bravo!
Man, I need to go for a ride right now. . .
so true so many places... Ive ridden Squamish,kelowna,coquitlam,north shore all over(live there beside trail head) a short list... But ask me what ww kayak rivers/places I have paddled,, that is mofo list stretching into the usa(including hawaii) down to socal and as far east as ottawa..
frankietheadventurer.wordpress.com/2016/06/14/wildisle-day-1-june-4-2016
Great read by the way.
Have a good day!
Plus the bike parks are closed now.
Lights are great, but can't replace the sun. I ride every week at least once with lights, but during autumn I get out whenever I can in real light. Feel way more confident on jumps etc. That said, there are times I'm out at night where I almost kinda forget that it's night time.
Use debt for investments in life (school, houses etc.) not as a tool for consumption. Owing money to your past self sucks hard.
@properp some money leads to freedom. It's not all bad!
I kid. Beautiful words @vernonfelton, as usual.
I do miss me some actual winter with snowboarding and backcountry touring but as for biking - this 12 months/year bluebird thing really isn't all that bad.
And believe it or not, if you get up to high elevations down here, you can freeze your butt off all you want and even ride through snow. I had to see it with my own eyes but it's for real.
Anyway this is definitely the best time to ride the trials are absolutely lethal at the moment, you're not downing in sweat or being eaten by insects and night riding is still a top buzz. I agree with this article.
All in good fun, of course! IPA for me...cheers!
There's really no reason to switch except the math gets easier. There's also no reason not to just start slapping the km on every new road sign alongside the miles so that in 30 years when we have the discussion again we'll already be halfway there and most Americans will have a good idea what a kilometer is.
Praising Brexit... fk... obviously not an owner of a business dealing with international orders/ services. As if making obstacles for free trade, like introducing taxes and customs, has helped anyone, anywhere, ever. @hamncheez school that guy!
Sarcasm is one of the few things we continue to do fairly well in these times of idiotic partisan politics and national upheaval. Doesn't translate quite so well online, though.
HOWEVER being a member of the EU, especially for a richer country like Britain, doesn't automatically mean more free trade. More free trade with the EU, maybe, but not necessarily globally. Britain can have unilateral free trade with all other countries more easily on its own than being bound down by treaties and the tower of corruption, greed, and evil that is the EU bureaucracy. Brexit is an opportunity, not a decisive good or bad.
True that. It's hero dirt right now. Perfect time to do trail work too before it gets too mucky.
Then one line made me realise I love the fact that I ride all year round "The cold air burns in my lungs as I churn sloppy circles and remember that even a cold, wet day on the bike is better than any day spent hunched at a desk or inside a climate-controlled cubicle."
That's so true and also the one of the reasons I love riding, now I haven't ridden since July, have a brand new bike loaded into the car and sat at my desk surfing pinkbike trying to get through a half day so I can meet up with the boys this afternoon and ride for the first time in months!
When you ride under the shower first thing coming to mind is "maan, this was the last time I'm off riding", but then you get soaked and your tires goes 5 inch wide with sticky dirt and there's nothing left to do than having damn fun and take things as they are.
Some time later this adventure brought much more good memories than any perfect trail day with buddies am beers.
I live in SoCal and and miss those nights terribly.
www.amazon.com/PEET-Dryer-Original-2-Shoe-Electric/dp/B001J4HQ76
I made my own dryer out of a plywood box, 4 computer fans (wired to a wall wart) and some PVC pipe. My stuff goes on the dryer after every ride, whatever the season.
At first you are happy to adapt and then you start to dislike it more and more, all the layers all the time and the CLEANING. F that, I am far from a Sam Hill fan, but that constant cleaning (lengendary "moy boyke gets muddy") of bike and clothes for sometimes not so great rides gets on my nerves and I want sissy summer back (actually spring is even better)...
That all does not apply if you live in Wales or Scotland. Been to Wales for a week, guy at Penmachno trail center said: "They say englisch summer's bad..well, welsh is worse..." and my god was he right. You poor bastards with your liquid sunshine...
My autumns are dry and full of leaves with reasonable temperatures that allows you to pedal up and down mountains. There are no longer any lifts working and it is peaceful. It is a great time and lasts from September to later October. After that point comes the shitty autumn Mr. Felton described which is when I escape to a warmer country and return to "summer" until December. Riding in rain and mud is just masochistic if you have a choice!
All time Fall time!!
don't they take care of you at PB? get a clutch!
what is this fall you speak of?
Mud, rain, sun, who cares if you are having fun?