Ten Things To Love About Fall Riding
By: Marshall Opel
“If I was an artist, I’d paint color gradients.” My friend Blake remarked as we scanned the western skyline. A magnificent orange to pink to blue to black hue of a Monday night sunset occupied our senses for a brief moment. Noses running, it was time to set off again. Bike lights switched on.
Riding this time of year means savoring the final moments of warmth and embracing the impending dark, colder days to come. Being out amongst it gives us a chance to catch the transition, to interact with the change, to let go of what was. Each season has a certain resonance to it and autumn is the grand finale.
Ten Things to Love About Fall Riding:
The glory that is riding through a grove of aspen trees as their mustard yellow leaves flutter against a crisp blue sky.
Finding the temperature sweet spot with layers that keep you delightfully comfortable as the day goes from frosty to toasty back to frosty.
The return of tacky singletrack that supports your tires like you’d support a crowd surfing Mick Jagger.
Summer visitors have dispersed.
Riding over a carpet of dry fallen leaves and larch needles. Then, power skidding because you can’t help yourself.
Feeling a sense of toughness as you stick to the plan and head out on a rainy Saturday morning ride. Then unlocking the feeling of accomplishment while relaxing for the afternoon.
Shorter days mean mid-ride sunsets and the joys of night riding.
Closing your eyes and pointing your face directly at the sun, soaking in its low angle rays.
A long summer of riding finally pays you back as you get out of the saddle adding some extra power to your pedals over a climb.
Daring to stop for one last jump in open water despite the bite in the air...Enlivening.
“These next six weeks,” My dad used to say “the best time of year, isn’t it?” Of course he’d say this line throughout the year but he said it most often during the Fall. It was his way of appreciating what is while remembering that change is always.
Cheers to the season and to what comes next. Happy riding, y’all!
