Distance: 40 miles
Top Speed: 36.6 mph
Average Speed: 15 mph
Altitude Gain: 2313 ft
Avg Gain Per Mile: 57.8ft
Avg Gain Per Mile: 57.8ft
Weather conditions: Worse than anything we’ve
ever cycled in!!!
So here we are, day one of what we’d class
as an actual weekend training ride. The plan today was to start early from casa
Dazza, get some miles in the legs and hit some hills in a circular route
towards Andover and back, whatever the weather. Route:
As it turns out it had been raining heavily
since I woke up, the roads were like rivers as I drove to Dazza’s house at 9am
and the temperature wasn’t great at around 6°C. We both were wearing our fancy
new kit (thanks to our friends at Endura), as it happens the pair of us had
chosen to get new rain jackets which would come in handy. As you can see from
the pic, we both started off looking kinda happy, however by the end of the
ride we were at the opposite end of the spectrum (shame there was no pic from
afterwards…)!
The riding itself was good, the roads were
very quiet and the hills didn’t seem too arduous, the first hour of the ride
was pretty enjoyable as the constant rain had not yet drenched our hands and
feet. However as we got further away from base the weather got worse, the
temperature dropped, we were riding into a strong headwind and then without
warning it started to snow! And this was proper, actual snow – not just a bit
of sleet (I didn’t see snow mentioned on the weather forecast - not that I’d
seen a forecast mind you)!
By this point our supposed waterproof
gloves and socks were absolutely sodden with rain, it felt like there was at
least an inch of water in my shoes, but then again this wasn’t surprising given
that some of the puddles on the road were so deep they reached our pedals! The
last ten miles of the ride must have been the least enjoyable ride we have ever
done, our sodden clothes made us ridiculously cold in the snow and driving
rain. The only way back to base was over some large exposed hills, nowhere to
escape from the driving wind and snow which left our faces, hands and feet feeling
like they may drop off at any point.
So glad to get back to civilisation after
that ride, we were way beyond just feeling cold! As we both commute to work all
year round by bike we are well used to riding when the temperature drops below freezing,
however on this ride we weren’t prepared for the weather to change so
dramatically, we didn’t have anywhere near warm enough gear on. Fingers crossed
we won’t encounter freezing temperatures when we do the LEJOG in August…!
Special thanks goes to Mrs Dazza for making
us warm drinks the second we’d reached home and for not getting her camera out
again to take pictures of us shivering, dripping wet and with blue lips!
Positives: We’d cycled 40 miles and up
several hills without getting remotely tired. My new Endura Stealth Jacket kept
my body stone dry despite being out in the rain/snow for over 2.5 hours, well
impressed with that.
Negatives: Shivering non-stop for about an
hour afterwards! Waterproof socks and gloves are not actually waterproof.
Next training ride: From Mark’s house, 30
ish miles and all of the steepest hills around.
PLEASE SPONSOR US!!!:
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