Davide la Locomotive

The clocks have changed—well, for most of us.
Spring has returned. Daisy is on the prowl.
The blossom is blossoming. The air smells like possibility.
This is a ride through golden hours, cool evenings, and that feeling of starting again.

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Spring Awakens

I love spring, it’s my favorite time of year!

If a year was one day, autumn would be the sunset, winter would be the night and spring would be sunrise. The sun is rising.

Just before sunrise there is the golden hour. When everything has a soft golden glow. There is something special about the golden hour. It’s a good time to take photos, it makes everything—especially the countryside—very pretty.

Nature has been in hibernation, but is beginning to wake up and get ready to explode into growth. Big things are about to happen.

I love BST so much I always keep all my clocks on BST. I call it DT (David Time). When I give my mum a lift she says “Is that the real time?”, I say “No, I don’t know how to change it”, but I do. In winter my car battery died, I took it to the garage where I always go. They fitted the new battery and set the clock to DT, even they know. The added bonus is that it’s easy to switch to BST.

With the longer evenings, cyclists too can come out of hibernation. Staggering out from their dark garages or spare rooms. Squinting as they gingerly venture back into the outdoors.

Daisy is also out in the garden doing her thing. Daisy is my robot lawnmower, her full name is Daisy Cutter. She hates grass and lives to slaughter it. Don’t mess with Daisy, if you are unruly vegetation. Daisy spends winter somewhere warm, giving her scythes of destruction a little break (and a tune-up). I do worry about her when she’s away. It’s nice that she’s back — out there, doing what she loves.

I love the first ride of spring. It feels great to ride after work. The cool air is invigorating. The sights and sounds of the countryside that I’ve only been able to occasionally experience over winter. The blossom is out in force—first the white, then the pink.

 

Anticipating the Journey

It’s nice going through my spring checklist:

• Putting away my winter wardrobe and getting out the summer kit
• Tucking away my winter wheels and fitting the shiny summer ones
• Dusting off my summer bikes – I have one winter bike that gets filthy, it sacrifices itself for the sake of the summer ones
• Spring cleaning my velotorium, where all my bikes live

Everyone else does this, right? …Right?

The best thing about spring is that it is a new beginning. It’s not just the start of something, it’s the start of everything. There are so many opportunities and things to do. So many that it can be difficult to narrow it down.

It’s a great time to make plans for rides with friends, holidays or trips, events, epic rides and places you have dreamt of going.

The best rides I’ve had are often not the ones that I’ve planned. They are the ones that happened when I least expected them.

Some days it gets warm in the evening. It’s a sign of those warm shimmering evenings that are to come. The rich blue skies that seem to go on forever. I like it when it’s warm outside—it makes the whole world as warm as your living room. You can spend the entire day outside cycling and that feels nice.

In summer, the grass will grow quickly, that’s when Daisy is at her happiest—more grass to scythe down. Daisy’s got my back… garden. She has her own penthouse with panoramic views of her territory. She loves it.

Of course not everything will go to plan—there will be mechanicals, dark clouds, torrential rain, lightning. But the sun will shine again.

 

Embracing the Light

We’ve all experienced dark times.

You might have been attacked by an out-of-control robotic lawnmower.

 

Or it could have been winter, an injury, a humiliation, a loss, a terrible thing.

We can get support and hope through friends, family and from doing the things that we enjoy.

For me, my connection with cycling—my love for it—has helped me through many dark times. It has a golden glow that shows me a way forward.

When I fell, cycling helped me get back up.
When I was hurt, it taught me how to come back stronger.
When I felt powerless, it gave me power.
When I felt weak, it reminded me I was strong.
When I lost, it showed me how to use that to win.

It carried me through the darkness.

I have ridden through the darkness.
Into the dawn.
Now the sun is rising—
soft, golden, and full of promise.
It will reach into me,
to fill my heart with light.

The road ahead is mine.
And I will ride it!