Summer.

Everyone loves summer right? Balmy weather, sun, ice cream, the occasional thunderstorm. I for one am a big fan of summer. For me it's as good an excuse as any to just ride my bike for the hell of it.

When the sun appears properly, everyone knows it's summer and that is a fairly important thing (especially for cyclists), as for a lot of the year training and racing can be, well, a little testing weather wise. I call to reference slipping and sliding my way to Scorton café on a backroad that turned out to be covered in sheet ice last November...or the Calthwaite road race (technically in summer, but stick with it) run in The worst conditions I think I've ridden in. Of course, every cyclist has his day (as they say) and I also call to reference CDNW Old Hutton-a race back in the spring on the sort of balmy day and course that reminds you just why you still take the same joy now from riding a bike as you did whizzing round as a kid. Summer is the creator of memories, the salvation of school kids and the subject of winter dreams. Or something.

So naturally as a cyclist on a gap year I couldn't wait for summer. I had visions of café runs aplently, afternoon naps in the garden and the occasional ice cream after races. Sadly, as seems to be the case these days-summer did not deliver. Or at least not in the expected fashion. So far, since my Uni mates have come back on their 'summer' break, we've had rather a lot of rain and not a lot of sun. Not what we signed up for during that most testing of seasons, winter.

Looking back over the past few months however I see that in fact I've got everything I wanted out of 'summer'-just not during the commonly accepted season of 'summer'. Which leads me to believe that, for me at least, 'summer' is not just a season in the year, more a state of mind. A 'screw you winter, I can do what I want now' frame of mind if you will.

A bientôt :)