Blue sky, your sapphire beauty cheers me up. The winter seems like a memory, long forgotten. Birds are flitting about in the trees, full of song, people picnicing in the park, joggers going round and round. Spring is almost here.

I’ve endured the winter. We all have. Ridden on sullen, gloomy, drepressing days. Patience, motivation, dedication to cycling tested, time and time again. Pondered the sanity of riding in such conditions when the sofa is so inviting, yet finding myself out in miserable conditions, the wind tugging at my jacket, being pummelled by the cold hard rain, my face splattered with mud and road grime, frozen on sub-zero rides.

But now, with spring blossoming increasingly with each passing day, the grass greener and flowers blooming, the payback for that commitment is being felt with each ride. The lightweight racing bicycle has come out of winter hibernation and is getting good use as the temperature increases and the daylight hours extend longer into the evenings.

Slowly, pedalling becomes less leaden. I’m feeling faster, speed more easily produced from a body now covered in less layers of winter clothing. Hills more easily dispatched and occasional sprints for town name signs added to the mix. Motivation levels are nearly back to full levels. The payback for enduring the winter, it seems, is now being cashed in. And it feels great.