I’m not really sure how it started, but for an entire week, I managed to see every sunrise and sunset aboard my bike. Usually, at the end of the month, I tend to opt for the 44km commute to work over the £12 charge. This is generally dictated by a simple ratio (beer + bike parts + rent: wages). Quite often there isn’t room to pay for train tickets. It’s not like I’m going to drink less beer, or buy less bike things.
Somewhere along Tuesday mornings ride, cruising along a frozen canal towpath, I pondered the idea of trying to see the sun each morning this week. Logically, the concept of paying for one way tickets (£9.60 each way) was balked at, so I’d managed to commit to a bit of the old in-out for the whole week. Which, considering the average temperature at 6am has been about -3 degrees Celsius, was challenging on my body most mornings.
Oddly, it’s been one of the most rewarding weeks I’ve had on a bike in a long time. I’ve watched the sun come up that bit earlier every day. The birds have been getting frisky and I find myself cheering the males on as they battle for supremacy while the females just get on with eating. Not so different to real life in many of the run down North Manchester towns I roll through by the end of the morning.
The reverse, daylight fading slower and slower, pushing back the time before I click on my light, has been a joy to witness. It’s like I’m watching winter recede before my eyes, chasing it further and further along the ride home.
I feel like I’ve become part of the fauna of the canal along with the birds, the dogwalkers, and the random pedallo shaped like a swan that is inexplicably tied up in the middle of nowhere. And the llamas.
Also, now I can buy new brakepads for the ones I ground down this week. Hmm, maybe this is not the most cost effective pursuit?
Beer Of The Week
Amish Mash: Great Heck Brewery ABV 4.7%
“Winner Speciality Beers LocALE Competition at York CAMRA Beer Festival 2013 Cloudy, hoppy weizen with Apollo, Bravo and Galena hops. This is a genuine German style Weizen with the hops of an American IPA. Light, refreshing and extemely fruity as the hops balance the banana and clove notes from the german yeast. This beer is naturally cloudy because it is unfined and thus suitable for vegans.”
This confuses me so much. It’s a German wiezbeer – it’s an IPA – WTF is it? What it is, is a mildly summery beer in a winter form. Not quite an easy all day drinker, but definitely something with a bit of body for dinner.