totallyfixed
Veteran
- Location
- The only county without a McDonalds
Yesterday's ride was interesting in the sense that if you were riding with someone else it was a good idea to stay close or you lost them in the mist. Today was a different kettle of fish and I would describe it in two words, wet and colourful.
I can never work out why, when you look at different websites that have Met Office forecasts they give different predictions. Nevertheless all of them gave a dry outlook with just one saying a 32% chance of rain at 1pm. After a lazy early morning reading the paper and drinking coffee we finally dragged ourselves out just after 11am. Dress was longs and windproof jackets. We almost immediately met up with one of the up and coming road racers of this area so rode together for about 30 mins, at which point the rain began, sensibly our friend peeled off for a shorter route back.
We had no stop planned but after 25 miles or so we discovered a new cafe that had just opened [we have a lot of cafes]. Around the side of the cafe there was a milk machine associated with the adjacent farm that was dispensing milk for £1 per litre, how good is that! wish we lived a bit nearer.
The rain was falling steadily now so we only stopped for 5 mins to demolish a cake as the cafe side had closed about 10 mins ago. We were now getting seriously wet so it was heads down and keep the pace high. By the time we got back there wasn't any part of us that was dry, socks had to be wrung out and everything went straight into the washing machine. Really enjoyed it, cleaning the bikes took 2 mins, the advantage of riding fixed in bad weather cannot be underestimated.
The colour bit:
Must get a camera that picks up the colour better, some beautiful hues out there today, fingers crossed there will not be any gales this week so they are still there for our CC ride next Sunday. I should probably have kept quiet.
I can never work out why, when you look at different websites that have Met Office forecasts they give different predictions. Nevertheless all of them gave a dry outlook with just one saying a 32% chance of rain at 1pm. After a lazy early morning reading the paper and drinking coffee we finally dragged ourselves out just after 11am. Dress was longs and windproof jackets. We almost immediately met up with one of the up and coming road racers of this area so rode together for about 30 mins, at which point the rain began, sensibly our friend peeled off for a shorter route back.
We had no stop planned but after 25 miles or so we discovered a new cafe that had just opened [we have a lot of cafes]. Around the side of the cafe there was a milk machine associated with the adjacent farm that was dispensing milk for £1 per litre, how good is that! wish we lived a bit nearer.
The rain was falling steadily now so we only stopped for 5 mins to demolish a cake as the cafe side had closed about 10 mins ago. We were now getting seriously wet so it was heads down and keep the pace high. By the time we got back there wasn't any part of us that was dry, socks had to be wrung out and everything went straight into the washing machine. Really enjoyed it, cleaning the bikes took 2 mins, the advantage of riding fixed in bad weather cannot be underestimated.
The colour bit:
Must get a camera that picks up the colour better, some beautiful hues out there today, fingers crossed there will not be any gales this week so they are still there for our CC ride next Sunday. I should probably have kept quiet.
Now whilst I will go out in the rain on my physio days, I tend to wait it out to see what happens. All morning it was 
so I held on until the worst seemed to have passed, then headed out just before midday. No route in mind, so I ended up going through Chertsey, planning to return alongside the river at Laleham. When I got there the road was closed, so instead I took Littleton Lane then through Laleham towards Ashford for a change. Turning back towards home I passed my old school, and the house I grew up in until I was 15 years old before ambling through Staines and off towards Virginia Water. My late start caught up with me now, and despite pressing on (for me, at least...) I realised that the 25 mile target was not going to happen as I needed to get home for lunch and dog walk with SWMBO.
Roll on Thursday...
