Sunday 5 January 2014

ice, rain and a chain gang

as i mentioned in the previous blog entry it was very wet and the roads were flooded but over night the skies cleared and we had a hard frost making all the standing water on the tarmac lethal. unfortunately it was also forecast to rain again by lunchtime so there was no choice but to just go out and risk the slippery conditions. I always try to avoid the main roads but keeping to the lanes might not have been the best idea, to say my riding was tentative was an understatement, in the picture above, it's kind of hard to see but most of the surface was ice with water flowing across it, not out of the saddle climbing territory, mountain biking technique certainly came in handy today.
After passing the Chaddesely Corbet and trying to avoid main roads i followed two cyclist down a country lane. I had no real idea where it went so when i caught up with them ( a girl and guy) i asked where the road went, it went generally in the right direction for me and they invited me to ride with them until the road they said i'd need to turn off on in the right direction for my ultimate destination. i hardly ever ride on the road with anyone else so it was good fun to have a go riding in a "peleton" even if it was only three of us!
when i reached my turn i thanked and bid my companions farewell. not long after this the rain started and conditions got a lot grimmer, i also started to tire quite a bit and the last 11 miles into a head wind with rain and quite a lumpy profile to the route took its toll. i was very glad to get home and into a hot shower. I was pleased to have made the effort to get out on the dubious conditions though
ride 3
31 miles
total 67
commute 17

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