AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
Less than a month to the trip!!!!!!
As I sit here to write up my entry for the last two weekends
all I have to do is raise my eyes past the screen in front of to me to look through
the window and what do I see…. Yep RAIN, Heavy horizontal rain and that’s the story of my
last two outings.
Saturday 18th May 2013.
Now today I had the option of giving it a miss and going on
Sunday, But I had splashed out on new cycle waterproof troo’s and some big green marigold’s to keep me dry
in the rain and they had said it would rain on Saturday So I was up for another
wet ride to test the new kit. Boy was this a mistake :0)
Again I decided to toodle off along the Lan Whang and really
wanted to get 20 miles before heading back.
Well I got all kitted up in full waterproof gear and loaded
down the bike and set off.
Well I got 2 miles and just had to stop, I could not take
it….. It was NOT raining and it was 9 deg C… I was melting. I had to take the waterproof
gear off and pack it away, so much for the weather forecasters (I used to be a
met man so I can get away with saying that ;0))
When I say there was no wind I mean NOTHING
 |
| I think that's called "Flat Calm" |
 |
| See no rain. |
I got to the AinVile farm where the horses were last week and to my amazement
I found there was a new addition to the farm
 |
| New addition to the farm |
I carried on and took some pics of the reservoir where the
water was so flat it was like a mirror. A dull day but dry.
 |
| Remember this pic for later. |
Well the ride went really well and at about 10miles I was
joined by a very pleasant chap on his road bike who opened the conversation with “You look like
you are going a long way today” I replied with “ hoping to get 40 miles today, what’s
your aim for the day” and the reply was one that had me beat “Oh about 100 miles”.
Well it transpired the gent was training to do the lands’
end to John O’Groats ride the same week Bobby and I will be cycling Skye. The
advantage this gent has is that he will have a support vehicle which will carry
his equipment. We chatted for a about a mile before a hill came that was steep
enough too really slow me down with all the weight I had on the bike, The gent
pulled ahead. I wish him all the luck to have a good trip.
I carried on to Carnwath where I turned left towards Newbigging.
When I arrived at Newbigging I was on the 20 mile mark and decided
to stop at the next convenient place for my hot chocolate and banana. There is
a nice animal farm at the other side of Newbigging where they have a wide variety
of animals.
I texted home to say I was half way and had not meet with
any rain and would be heading back.
Talk about speaking to soon…. I got about half a mile and
BOOM the rain came but it brought that old friend if it’s … the wind. Oh boy
did it rain and Oh boy did the wind blow. I quickly got my waterproofs on and
set off up the road.
I was really taken back by how hard the rain was (helped by
the ferocious wind), it was painful to look up at the route of the road, and at
one point the rain had hail in it. The skin on my face was stinging with the
force of the rain hitting me
Even the cars passing were being buffeted by the wind. I was
struggling to keep upright. Last week’s wind had been bad but this was beyond a
joke. The saving grace was that it was not cold and my waterproof trousers were
working brilliantly. I had wrapped my shoes in shopping bags and then put my shower
proof over shoes on top. SO my feet and legs were just fine. Unfortunately my
old cycle jacket was not as water proof as it used to be. At one point the wind
blew down my neck and the zip on my jacket unzipped 2/3ds of the way down, it
was a bit of a shock really.
I struggled along, the rain and wind coming in waves, sometimes
abating slightly but coming back with a vengeance. I had to stop a couple of
times to take a rest from the wind and the rain.
Remember that picture earlier of the trees in the mirror
like water of the reservoir? Well here is the same shot taken on the way home, It really
is the same shot.
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| Boy it was raining |
While taking the picture above I had notices a silver VW
golf that was going very slowly along the road in my direction then it turned round
in the road and went back about 1Km and then turned and went passed me, Thought
it was odd but carried on.
Well about a mile down the road the car was coming back
again and it stopped…. and a Japanese gent jumped out and stopped me. They
needed to get to a wedding and he had a printed google map to show me. Well I
quickly realised they had missed the venue by a long way. Unfortunately the
logical route back for them was closed this weekend at a railway level crossing
so I explained to the gent that they would have to head back along the road we
were on (A70) about 7 miles and then take a turning where a Golf Course was
sign posted and then about 5 miles down that road would be the venue, what he
then said took me by surprise… “You pedal on your bike and we will follow….”. I
think my gob smacked face told him the whole story, he said his thanks and he
was off (remember it was blowing a gale and pouring down and was he stood in
the road in his best bib and tucker), I hope they found the place in time.
Well I was going to stop and take a picture of the wind sock
to show the wind strength but I just could not bring myself to stop when I was
only 3 miles from home so let me just say the wind sock was horizontal and
whipping around in the rain.
I made it home and boy was I glad to be stood in my garage
out of the rain for the first time in about 2.5 hours.
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| Never been so glad to be in the garage. |
Well the water proof trousers worked brilliantly although
they were a bit baggy round the calves. I will put an elastic band round them
there. My feet were pretty dry, I think the dampness was actually sweat. My top
half was soaked right through. The marigolds had worked a treat (although they
are a wee bit big) and my fingers were warm and fully functional.
I did discovered one other thing…. My pannier bags are not
waterproof (a fact I am aware of) and therefore the towels in them (to stop the
weights from moving around) were soaked and weighed a load more than when I
started, I don’t know how much but they are big bath towels so a fair bit. I
will use the dry bags next time.
Stats for the ride.
Distance: 42miles
Peddle Time: 3hrs 54mins
Average Speed: 10.6
Max Speed: 30.5mph
Weight: 15Kg (more when wet :0))
Wine Gum count: 4 ate then when I stopped for a break from
wind and rain.
Was I tired: Thought I would be worse but yes, tired.
Well I really hope we don’t have to cycle through weather
like that in Skye. I don’t want to do it again when training so will try and
take more note of the forecast.
I think more than two days of that would be pushing it.
Well that it for now.
