Some days just aren't cut out to be a cycling day, and today was one of those. The Evans Ride-it Sportive; 70 miles with the start in Bristol all sounded great, but the February date clearly included some risk of poor weather. Well, it didn't disappoint!
I wasn't going to back out: after all I have loads of winter cycling kit and I hadn't attended my usual training session yesterday. I just needed to ignore the weather and get my butt out there.
As I pulled into the car park the dashboard thermometer said 2c, but that felt optimistic when I pulled myself away from the car heater - the rain occasionally morphed into hail and my hands were freezing before I had registered. However, there was a significant number of people there including myself...........
Listen friends, I have been sat here trying to write this for an hour now, and nothing. So, here are the important bits. It was f**cking cold but warmed up later. My gloves turned into sponges. I ate 6 small pieces of flapjack. My legs are tired, but what do you expect from 70 miles including Burrington Combe and Dundry? I went for a pee but I was wearing so many clothes that I couldn't, umm, find myself. Oh, and there was a cow wandering across the road at the top of Burrington. It was a great day.
The rest of the afternoon has been spent staring at my laptop and wondering whether the skin on my face will ever recover. Just in case you get in a debate with yourself about going out in poor weather, get out there - wear merino baselayers, your best jacket and an optimistic smile and all will be fine.
Photos to follow, although I noticed the photographer had his super-expensive camera in a plastic bag so don't expect the resolution to be too sharp.
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