Perverse satisfaction
I hereby formally declare it is summer in Austria!
What was the defining moment? Today I rode outside with bare legs. Finally, my awesomely white calves had a glimpse of the Alps, and they didn’t complain. After a winter of riding in cold weather, you’ve toughened to the elements, and there’s little that can stop you getting out the door for a ride. But when it does finally warm up, the feeling of heading out the door carrying the bare essentials is a lovely experience. It feels light and fast. Your pockets are almost empty, as the skull cap, face mask, thick gloves, extra layer can all be jettisoned.
To celebrate this new found lightness, I went in search of snow. There is a perverse satisfaction about riding to a ski resort, when skiing is still a possibility. Although the lifts at Axamer Lizum closed last week, there is still skiing down to the base area, and the car park was half full with people heading up under their own steam. The resort is perfectly positioned in a bowl of towering peaks, and I was momentarily jealous of the small figures I could see zig-zagging their way up the higher points of the mountains. The stable spring snow conditions make anything possible, and it may have given me a little inspiration to seek out some slushy spring turns before I have no more choice. Nevertheless, my alternative equipment choice was perfectly satisfactory, and I headed back down into the valley in search of the singletrack and trees.
The flowers in the woods are beautiful. I’ll endeavour to get a better picture of them as soon as I decide which new camera to buy! There are also bee hives everywhere around here. I’m not sure whether its more common to keep bees here, but its certainly bringing out my inner apiarist. I’m going to get some hives when I have enough space and time to do so (well, maybe in 40 years then!). There’s something very relaxing about tending to a beehive, and also, I love honey. Maybe I’ll aim for something as impressive as this:
