Winter miles give way to summer smiles. Anon.
During the planning of this tour I picked an easy day of riding for today, 64km with limited climbing. I am using the pre-loaded rides that come with Komoot, my navigation app, because you can filter down to start location, distance and ascent and the rides presented will have been uploaded by someone else because they believed them to be enjoyable.
The forecast is for blue skies and the reality doesn't disappoint. So much so that I dare to take off my long sleeve jersey.
This green bridge is something of a landmark and was erected in WW2 to aid supply lines after the previous bridge was blown up.
I took any number of scenery photos though as ever they don't do the landscape justice.
I had been following the canal out of Charleville-Mézière which forms part of the TransArdennes Voie Verte but now I am on the quiet country roads.
There is always plenty of signage to help the walker or cyclist get their bearings and discover what other routes they could follow.
Another fortified church in a village where I was hoping to find food having come out empty handed.
Cycling is a very broad church with lots of disciplines such as track, road, gravel, touring, leisure and transportation. Running has its different forms too, track, road, trail, fell across the full range of distances. Perhaps because of the variety of choice of equipment and clothing some cyclists develop a strong sense of what is 'correct'. Ortlieb or Vaude panniers for touring is an example. A properly cleaned and lubricated chain, full mudguards in winter, no cross-chaining, lycra, no lycra, carbon fibre, steel, the list goes on. I say this as I know I am guilty, I possess a little knowledge and as we know that's a dangerous thing. It is hard for me not to notice the mismatched valve caps, the squeeking chain, the saddle too high, the saddle too low, ... I'll stop there because I know I am wrong. Each to their own, and if a lycra clad cyclist aboard a carbon fibre race machine and pulls up for a coffee leaving their bike on large chainring and large sprocket (cross-chainring) then that is probably a sign they just dumped 4 gears ready to set off and move back up which is perfectly valid. Oh, today I realised that running tops make a good base layer for cycling, and pockets in the back of any top you use for cycling is actually very useful for phone and wallet though many other solutions exist.
Reading today's journal notes back they sound rather dreary, because they are, though the cycling was exceptional. Today I was more interested in soaking up the ideal cycling conditions and having put on all those cold and sometimes wet winter miles I am now cashing-in on the summer smiles.
