Early mornings are the giveaway.
The soft haze of summer has been replaced by a crispness in the air; not unpleasant, but unmistakably sharper, and a sign of cooler times to come. Autumn is here. Forewarned is forearmed, or in this case, forearmwarmered (apologies).
A quick glance at the Met Office website and a turn in the garden provides all the meteorological data required for my clothing choice. It’s still warm enough for shorts and a short sleeved jersey, but arm warmers and a gilet will be required for at least part of the ride.
Vermarc’s Strada shorts and jersey (basic but functional), their arm warmers (the same) and Castelli’s excellent Compato gilet (light, close fitting, high collared) are pulled from the wardrobe and an overflowing box of arm and knee warmers, shoe covers and caps. If the weather remains this clement, autumn riding will be pleasurable indeed. By the first junction, I am warm enough and congratulating myself on not adding knee warmers to the ensemble.
The ride represents a farewell to the LOOK 695 (full review soon), one of the best machines I’ve ridden. The challenge will come when climbing aboard its replacement. The 695 sets an unfair standard for most to compete against. It represents the pinnacle rather than the typical. Not every bike weighs 6.5 kilos, or has a frameset expensively engineered to deliver such a smooth ride and precise handling, but, luckily for most of us, not every bike costs as much as a family car.
I’m riding on tubs and relying on luck to avoid a puncture and understanding from family or friends if I do. It’s almost impossible to overstate the effect of a tyre on ride quality. The standard supplied even with machines demanding an investment of thousands of pounds is generally poor. Tubs (the LOOK is shod with excellent Schwalbe Ultremo HTs) offer a level of suppleness and ‘feel’ beyond that of any clincher of my acquaintance. The aggravation in the event of punctures makes them impractical for most, riding without the service of mechanic and support car, but taking a chance on a local loop is well rewarded when everything holds. Will tubeless offer the happy medium between the practicality of a clincher and the performance of a tub? Schwalbe believe so and we’ll be finding out soon. Stay tuned.
Mist hangs heavy over the hills I head towards, a hangover from the wonderful temperatures of the day before, more of which are forecast to follow. The Carrera R&B glasses are removed and jammed upside down in the vents of my helmet, in a vain approximation of the WorldTour style, and I make a mental note that the time for coloured lenses on early morning rides has past; clear would have been a better choice. Instead, I ride on with eyes unprotected. Fortunately, the atmosphere in the countryside is pretty clear and the change of season has diminished the insect population.
Country lanes can be a mixed blessing; a joy for the most part, but inspiring in the drivers of the few cars I encountered a greater sense of entitlement to the narrow strip of tarmac we shared. Few bothered to slow as the gap between us narrowed, preferring instead to rely on my acceptance of the verge as my right and proper place or their own judgment of width and closing speed to avoid a collision, the consequences of which would presumably be as inconvenient to them as to me.
My early morning spin ends as the world begins to stir, and a judicious choice of side roads leads me home having suffered only the briefest encounter with rush hour traffic. It’s been a superb start to the day, one to chew over with the boys at the shop along with the Vuelta, Eurobike, the Tour of Britain, and Team GB’s world championship long list (Tiernan-Locke delivered to the final ramp?). Life on two wheels this autumn is looking good.
