I’m not
quite sure how this happened, but I have become a morning rider… The thought of
straddling my bike for a hard couple of hours of riding in the cold at the end
of a work day is enough to have me sitting on the floor, facing into a corner
slowly rocking backwards and forwards. This means, inevitably, that during the
Winter months, I am out in the forest well before sunrise, and well before the
frost has had the chance to settle on the trails for the morning. It is stunning…
And it’s addictive… And it doesn’t seem to matter how many times I see the
sunrise from my favourite spot at the top of Katore Road, I never seem to tire
of it. The stunning beauty of the dawn of each day seems to have its own unique
DNA that makes it different from every other morning.
There are
few things like the crunch of your tires on the frozen trails, leaving
bite-sized dimples imprinted in the ice from the tread. Wallabies and rabbits
scatter and disappear into the darkness on the side of the trail. The first
thing that changes is always the sky… If you look up through the trees, it
turns from a black blanket sprinkled with stars to a dull blue, then as the sun
creeps over the horizon, it throws an array of blues, pinks, purples and
oranges across the white, frosty landscape. It’s so cold that my breath makes
patterns in the air in front of my face, but my body is toasty warm beneath
layer upon layer of clothing.
I understand
it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s such a special time of morning that I
feel obligated to share it, so following is a collection of stunning photos
from my adventures over Winter so far (mixed in with a couple of sneaky sunset shots!)… I know it takes some convincing for most
people, but it really is worth braving the cold to experience this stuff
firsthand!
