Riding season? What riding season?

Yesterday I put the bike away, probably for the last time this year. I realise it’s still mid-September but we’re going away for a few weeks and won’t be back until October. Given this year’s weather patterns, we may well have snow on the ground by then. (I’m joking, but only a little bit!)

I haven’t posted much this summer because I haven’t ridden. I don’t recall a year when I put fewer kilometres on the bike. Short jaunts only and no long 200+ kilometre day rides. The endless winter of 2013/14 meant the riding season started late in May, about 6 weeks later than normal. That was followed by another month when I was held prisoner by road construction for most of June (to be repeated next year apparently – sigh…). A cold, wet July didn’t improve things any and then we had an equally cold, wet August. And here we are now in September where the temperature yesterday morning was 5 degrees C - and it was raining, hard.

Everyone complains about the weather but nobody ever does anything about it, the saying goes. Well we’re doing something about it. We’re leaving town.

In a few hours we’ll be on our way across the pond, destination Paris where the weather forecasters are calling for sunny, mid-20 temperatures for most of the next week - 10 to 15 degrees warmer than the forecasts guesses are for the local weather here.

Unfortunately there won’t be two wheels involved on this trip but perhaps I’ll have a chance to share some photos along the way as we enjoy a belated summer in Europe.

Next year will be better.