It’s been icy, cold and the lure to ride is not here. Winter has finally arrived. It’s made me put away my urge to ride for a few days and think of other things. My tools and workshop aren’t much above the external temperature, so I’m not going to work on bikes. My kitchen is warm and inviting, it has a kettle, tea, and a nice comfortable worktop to lean against. My living room has an even more comfortable chair beside a radiator and is nestled against an ever-increasing pile of books I’ve been meaning to read.
I grab a cup of tea, sit into the comfortable rocking chair and pick the first book that comes to hand – a 46 year-old book on photographic techniques by the master Ansel Adams that I’d been meaning to read. It cost me £0.79p, an adequate price for a long afternoon of educational entertainment.
As I read about large format plate photography, calculating how to work out what aperture you need to use for a given situation, I think about how lucky we are today to be able to buy our way out of this situation. I start to drift away thinking about the choices we make when it comes to our bikes, what have I bought my way out of, difficulty-wise? As if the book was foreseeing my thoughts when the next words I read are:
“...it is admittedly difficult to become acquainted with equipment before it is available or owned. The photographer must therefore reject the kinds of things, make the best selection he can and proceed to master the operation of his final selections.” (Ansel Adams, Camera and Lens: The Creative Approach 1970, p39)
How often do we not do this as cyclists? We pour over the latest greatest bikes and components without thinking about what we could do on what we have. Rather than how to master the operation of the final selections we already have.
I already have N+ too many, why don’t I just master what I have and be done with it? Maybe progression of what I have is better than what I think I need.
Beer of the Week
1845 – Fullers ABV 6.2%
“A strong, rich and fruity ale, Fuller’s 1845 was specially commissioned to celebrate 150 years of the Fuller, Smith and Turner partnership. It’s a live, bottle-conditioned beer, skilfully brewed to mature over time.”
Every now and again I drink a beer I’d forgotten about. I can’t claim to have remembered this one – the folks over at Beerbods I have to thank for that. An utterly stunning example of a dark British ale with a bottle conditioned finish that calls for just, one, more sip.