Autumn turns

Is there a better time for riding in Britain than dry autumn days? it's not too hot, not too cold the rain hasn't turned the fallen leaves to slippery mush. This year partly because in these parts its been very dry and cos most of the leaves still seem to be on the trees. Even as November looms it's all still relatively green. One good storm will take care of that I suppose but that's another reason autumn scores for me over the change from winter to spring - it's just that bit much more colourful. 

Winter is definitely on the way though, the last two sundays rides have been in glorious sunshine but even then there was a slight iciness to the breeze and the first frost of the season was price of a day's clear, blue skies – a bit early for the mild west.

Should have known it was coming though. The world turned on the ride home last thursday night, just as it always does shifting another notch through the seasons, in these parts at least tonight's thursday's shift brought us perceptibly closer to winter. Perceptibly enough that I stopped the bike a mile into my ride and fished out some long fingered gloves from my bag… tonight I knew that riding harder was only going to make my fingers colder.

That's one of the things I like about cycling every day is that you really get to experience the changing of the seasons, and there always seems to be a ride every year when you can definitely tell that the seasons have changed from one on to the next. 

Mind you, I'm riding around the West Country so they'll probably change back again next week.