My idea of fun is not being soaked to the skin, covered in grit, and getting blasted by 60kph gusts. But that was the gist of tonight’s ride.
Now, it didn’t start that way.
Well, it kind of did. I took about 30 minutes getting ready, largely because I’d left it very late in the day, didn’t want to go out, and was trying not to go out too soon after wolfing down a meal of burger and chips.
But the clock was ticking – light wouldn’t last forever, and if I didn’t get in a ride today I wouldn’t be able to ride until Thursday – as I am away tomorrow and Wednesday with work.
So I had to go. Or, well, I could have stayed in and done a turbo session. But I didn’t do that.
As soon as I left the house, the rain began. That was annoying, but I had gone out in long sleeves, a jacket, and bib tights. Pretty well prepared, at least for the light drizzle I thought would soon ease off.
Nope.
The rain continued, slowly but surely, throughout the whole ride. By the midway point I was absolutely sodden. However what really caught me out was the wind. It turns out I’d had a tailwind for all of my ‘out lap’, and so when I turned back for home I was utterly smacked in the face by the worse winds I’ve been out in in a good long while. 60kph at points, according to Intervals.icu, and I could easily believe that. Pedalling into them was hard going.
Combine the wind with the utterly soaked roads and me not having mudguards and frankly, by the time I got home I was a big wet mess. I’d only gone out to do an endurance session, but once the weather kicked in I ended up going harder just to get home sooner. Not that I really succeeded in that.
Then when home I had to wash the bike, which in itself was a bit of a mess because the rain continued. However absolutely all of me, from head to toe, and the bike in full, was covered in road grit. Disgusting. I couldn’t leave my dear bike like that for two more days. No sir.
Anyway, that’s me until Thursday. What a ride.
