Cycling home from the bike club do at 1am last week I had the following quasi-religious experience which was 'so not profound' that I've committed it to attempted poetry.

Unexpected Conversion on a road that didn't go to Damascus.
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Deep in the winter night
in the deep winter cold
I laboured up past Killick Fold
with alcohol pulling heavy on my soul.

I made the fields above
with their covering of snow
and there the moon shone bright
revealing a wonderful vista below.

Awestruck, I paused to take in this view
and experienced a fundamental CONVERSION,
tho I hardly knew, to being a SINGLESPEEDER,
coz my f*****g gear wires had frozen through.

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Conclusion....by all means wash your bike in the winter when you can but it pays to lube the wires with GT85 or similar aswell. I knew that from previous experience but I had forgoten. It took a lot longer to get home than it should have done.