lulubel
Über Member
- Location
- Malaga, Spain
This week, I've finally come to realise how bad my old bike was and how good my new one is. I did a couple of descents this week that I've only done once before. The first one (on Monday) I'd originally walked part of and fallen off once, and the second one (today's) I'd fallen off once.
Monday's ride
I started out descending carefully, and I did need to because there was a lot of deep "stuff" that had got washed across the trail in the heavy rains, but soon started to make better progress. At one point I asked myself where was the bit I'd walked the time before, and my answer was, "Back there," which made me laugh because I'd barely even noticed it. Further down, I found myself picking the rockier lines rather than the easier ones, "Because I can."
Today's ride
I made a huge mistake today. The temperature at 100 metres was about 8C when I left, and I didn't take into account that the temperature drops by 1C for about every 100 metres of altitude, with the result that it was around freezing at the highest point of my ride. It was cloudy, so there was no sun to warm me, and it was COLD. I don't think I've ever been so cold in my life.
I was fine while I was climbing, and even opened my windproof jacket to let some cooling air in, but by the time I stopped for a snack at about 800 metres, I realised stopping, and messing around with the wrapper on my cereal bar, had warmed my fingers up. (I hadn't noticed they were cold.) From that point on, I really started to notice it, and the last 45 minutes of the ride were a constant battle between the need to stay safe and the desire to get off the mountain as fast as possible.
This particular trail is proving to be my nemesis. I crept and struggled down it on my old bike the first time, and did pretty much the same today. I could have ridden faster, but the chill was really penetrating now, and my reactions were getting slow and sluggish. Every slight change in the surface took me a few seconds to register and adapt to. When a bigger rock appeared in front of me, you could almost hear the brain-cogs creaking as I decided how to tackle it. Worse, my fingers had gone past cold, through painful, and now I couldn't feel them at all. When I told my fingers to squeeze the brake levers, the only sign I had that they'd done it was that the bike slowed down. I was heading into a cold, northerly wind, and I was stopping every 5 minutes or so to turn my back to the wind, tuck my hands inside my jacket, and jog on the spot to try and warm myself.
I did get off the mountain safely, but I have scared myself a bit. I'm definitely going to ride that trail again, but I'll need warmer gloves, socks and an extra thermal layer under my jacket - and probably a hat too because my well ventilated helmet that's so good in the summer proved to be a bit of a handicap today! The good news is, I didn't fall off, I didn't crash, and I didn't wimp out and walk any of it. If I'd still been on my old bike, I probably would have abandoned it at the side of the trail and walked the rest of the way down!
I sat in the bath drinking a hot cup of tea when I got back, to warm myself inside and out, but it was still a couple of hours and a big bowl of soup later before I felt like I'd thawed out.
So, lesson learned. Next time I do that ride, I'm damn well going to make sure I enjoy it!
Monday's ride
I started out descending carefully, and I did need to because there was a lot of deep "stuff" that had got washed across the trail in the heavy rains, but soon started to make better progress. At one point I asked myself where was the bit I'd walked the time before, and my answer was, "Back there," which made me laugh because I'd barely even noticed it. Further down, I found myself picking the rockier lines rather than the easier ones, "Because I can."
Today's ride
I made a huge mistake today. The temperature at 100 metres was about 8C when I left, and I didn't take into account that the temperature drops by 1C for about every 100 metres of altitude, with the result that it was around freezing at the highest point of my ride. It was cloudy, so there was no sun to warm me, and it was COLD. I don't think I've ever been so cold in my life.
I was fine while I was climbing, and even opened my windproof jacket to let some cooling air in, but by the time I stopped for a snack at about 800 metres, I realised stopping, and messing around with the wrapper on my cereal bar, had warmed my fingers up. (I hadn't noticed they were cold.) From that point on, I really started to notice it, and the last 45 minutes of the ride were a constant battle between the need to stay safe and the desire to get off the mountain as fast as possible.
This particular trail is proving to be my nemesis. I crept and struggled down it on my old bike the first time, and did pretty much the same today. I could have ridden faster, but the chill was really penetrating now, and my reactions were getting slow and sluggish. Every slight change in the surface took me a few seconds to register and adapt to. When a bigger rock appeared in front of me, you could almost hear the brain-cogs creaking as I decided how to tackle it. Worse, my fingers had gone past cold, through painful, and now I couldn't feel them at all. When I told my fingers to squeeze the brake levers, the only sign I had that they'd done it was that the bike slowed down. I was heading into a cold, northerly wind, and I was stopping every 5 minutes or so to turn my back to the wind, tuck my hands inside my jacket, and jog on the spot to try and warm myself.
I did get off the mountain safely, but I have scared myself a bit. I'm definitely going to ride that trail again, but I'll need warmer gloves, socks and an extra thermal layer under my jacket - and probably a hat too because my well ventilated helmet that's so good in the summer proved to be a bit of a handicap today! The good news is, I didn't fall off, I didn't crash, and I didn't wimp out and walk any of it. If I'd still been on my old bike, I probably would have abandoned it at the side of the trail and walked the rest of the way down!
I sat in the bath drinking a hot cup of tea when I got back, to warm myself inside and out, but it was still a couple of hours and a big bowl of soup later before I felt like I'd thawed out.
So, lesson learned. Next time I do that ride, I'm damn well going to make sure I enjoy it!
