The weather in the UK has finally checked the calendar and realised it should be warmer and occasionally drier now that it’s officially Not Winter. There was a dry Sunday, so of course I went riding. It felt like summer- the smell of mown grass, of barbeque smoke (which is very different from bonfires or winter wood fires, even though several components are the same), the buzz of insects attempting suicide via my headlight, my visor, my mirrors…
Every season has its distinctive mise en scène for a biker, its own recognisable traits and quirks. Early summer has more daylight, more traffic, more time to spend on the roads as the afternoons linger into evenings. When you turn the engine off, you can hear the cicadas, the crickets. You can see the heat rise off the engine in shimmering waves, and coffee stops are replaced with cooler options, but jacket and jeans aren’t uncomfortable at low speeds yet. That will come, in a couple of months.
