This was going to be another whine about the weather and rubbish equipment, but after further consideration i’m going to sing everything’s praises instead.
It rained for the full 7.5hrs I was out, but never got too cold and the rain got rid of the ice that’s been plagueing the country roads for the past few weeks. This meant i could hit a few more hills without having to engage “panic mode” and that can only be a good thing.
Despite the rain i stayed nice and comfortable. No breathable fabric, no matter how expensive or how good the marketing hyperbole, is going to keep heavy rain out when your riding for that amount of time…especially when you’re hitting 50mph on some of the descents. Despite this the gore jacket, dhb gloves, sealskins socks and endura overshoes limited the ingress and allowed me to stay warm enough throughout.
This was the first ride i’d done using my new potion, Nature’s Kiss HotStuff rub, supposedly designed to keep you toasty while out in the winter weather. Well, i think i could tell it was there during the ride, a bit. I can definately tell it’s there now I’m at home and i’ve had a shower…i’m pretty sure it’s meant to start working at an earlier point than “several hours after the ride”, but i might be wrong…
Smells lovely though, i currently have cinnamon-y legs, mmmm 
The ride itself was quite nice, like i mentioned earlier i got to do some hills i’ve been missing out recently, which was nice. I’ve still got no power whatsoever but seem to be OK at just plodding at a fairly low intensity, which isn’t too bad a position to be in at this time of year. The crank bros. pedals are making some god awful noises already – they’ve only been on the bike for a couple of months, so they’re a bit rubbish – and the rear brake pads finally died off halfway round the route (meaning i took the longer, flatter 2nd half, rather than risk hurtling off the road), but given that they have been on the bike since i first got it, some 6,000 miles ago i won’t complain – they’ve outlasted one rim for gods sake!
The ride ended up being 134miles (not 142 as previously claimed, d’oh), but i can’t tell you the average speed as the constant rain took it’s toll on my 10,000+ mile old £10 computer. Well, either the computer went “a bit funny” or i really was doing 132mph along the a6…i live in hope
So there you are, stuff tried it’s best and did well, however as we know – with the exception of the rider – nothing’s perfect, but it’ll do!
