Winter monochrome

21 November 2011 by simonnurse

Late Autumn and early Winter is monochrome, a half-light beauty akin to squinting through your eyelids when the bedside lamp goes on. Washed out shades, the colours – or their absence – evoke thoughts of cyclo-cross, Copenhagen at dusk, freezing Flanders and art-house French movies of the 60s. Yesterday I went out for a ride on my singlespeed along the flats of Wentloog and into the hills that surround Cardiff. My bike is pefect for this, a black and white traitor luggernaut, that blends into the winter backdrop with a spartan ride to match. After emerging from a hard effort along the flats, I tackled Pound Hill before heading toward Rudry. Autumn’s onset had drained summer’s colour. Dead leaves fluttered in my wake under a milky white sky. There wasn’t a breath of wind and aside from the occasional mountain biker or runner, the only signs of life were airborne. Two and a half hours of one gear, lots of hills and ne’ry a dab of colour. I love the winter dreamscape.