Flaperon:

Where was that photo taken

Upper reaches of Dowber Gill & above the old mine, Kettlewell

Drizzly in Mid Wales on the Tywi track and then later on at Cwmyrhaeadr.

Five of us set out from north bovey this morning, and as so often happens when
you man up and get out had a great little ride
Brutal headwind on the climb to hambledown, but conditions under wheel better
than expected, two hooning slippery descents followed, riding on dartmoor in
january a result, guys were buzzing, beer post ride tastes sooo much better.
As a footnote to the single track massive, unfortunately the ring of bells pub in
north bovey which burnt down a year ago, will not reopen until this oct, the
best place for a post dartmoor ride beer, or the rugglestone at widdecombe 😀

Yep as crazy-legs said, wet.

Made it over to The Roaches for a walk.
Pissed it down solidly – there are some amazing views there apparently but we saw nothing as fog pretty thick – some slushy snow laying about too. That coupled with a biting wind meant we did half the walk we planned…still nice to be out though. Got to some tea rooms, took off 2 pairs of wet gloves, wet buff, Endura MT500 coat to find wet gilet and base layer so my bloody coat is leaking somewhere – down back of arms especially. Dry legs and feet courtesy of Berghaus and Scarpa though 🙂
Everything draped on rads when got home but at least it wasn’t plastered in shitty mud 😉

Went out for 30 miles along lanes on hardtail in morning. Enjoyed first half but it then became apparent that thick sealskins socks and summer shoes don’t keep your feet warm & not a even the slightest trace of snow or ice here.

I haven’t tried getting them seriously wet yet, but the Freerider EPS’s I went crazy on as I’d ended up with only summer shoes after my Teva’s finally died have been great so far. Toasty toes with regular merino socks with no overheating or sweatiness. If they keep the wet out as well as it looks like thy have any right to, I’ll be a completely satisfied punter with them.

Had a very wet but good fun blast in the local woods in the end, which is madness as I haven’t been out on the bike for a few months.

I cleaned the bike with a watering can as the mud was so wet it just slid off, lovely stuff.

The evening spent drinking wine and whisky felt all the better for it as well.

OP here – will I be a pussy if I don’t get out this weekend?
I’m doing a 72 mile sportive in 3 weeks and I really need to get out every weekend in between to get some miles in…can only do tomorrow morning – it’s gonna be 2 degrees and might be snowing…I’m sure I’ll be fine when I’m out but it’s stepping outside for the first time….makes me cold just thinking about it. Brrrrrrrr!!!

I felt like more of a loon than normal, forcing myself out the door just before 1500 earlier, somehow clocking up ~11 miles through loops around the block and a few different circuit routes than climb a Harefield semi-evil hill.

It’s freezing out there and that bitter northerly wind, making the climbing harder work, even had a small snow shower towards the end! In fairness though, once I did my warm-up loops, I was absolutely fine, until I did my warm-down loops.

But compared to what is coming our way this evening and appears to linger into next week, that was a walk in the park…

I may actually get to fit my new 45NRTH Gravdal, studded winter tyres! 😯

I was out at 7.30 this morning, did 21 local miles with two mates. Got so muddy my wife hosed me down when I got back, lol.
Get a coat on and get out

Heading to Cwmcarn in the morning.

Have to say I’m fed up of the cold weather now, I’ll enjoy it when I get started, but getting out of the van will be hard.

Come on Spring

Freezing and muddy on the Chilterns this morning, still good fun 😀

I’m off for a play around the northern tip of the chilterns tomorrow .hurrah.
Sloptastic.
🙂

Up to Hayfield tomorrow for a ride up onto Middle Moor, then off over Rowarth way. 18 miles up there in the impending weather might be ‘interesting’………

Not long….

[url=https://flic.kr/p/GLSLc3]20160515_161033[/url] by jamesanderson2010, on Flickr

I’m supposed to be out on the CX tomorrow round Hebden Bridge. Got a feeling it’ll be very wet, slushy, cold mud. Hmmm.

It’s my last day of my week off so I’ll be out no matter what!

Was meant to be going to the FOD with a mate but it’s forecast to be cold and sleety there so he’s sacked it off to go to the gym. I’ll either go out on the gravel bike round the local roads via the Taff Trail or grab the MTB and head for Cwmcarn, depending upon my mood in the morning.

[video]https://youtu.be/LLU_D1RIMkA[/video]

Absolutely rank today, as a fair weather rider, today was well outside my comfort zone, didn’t die though, so could have been worse.

100k audax round Rutland tomorrow. Forecast says 70-90% chance of snow/sleet/ rain, windchill not -4°.

I shall peer out the curtains at 6.30 in the morning and decide whether to sacrifice the entry fee or not.

Kipping in the van in Ambleside, rain battering off roof at present….

I’ll make a call in the morning.

Another ~14 miles earlier, linking up a few of my circuits, straight after work. Chilly and breezy, but the roads were dry and grippy, the idea of going out was far worse than actually doing it.

But tomorrow, I want to look out of the window and feel the need to fit my winter studded tyres, god dammit! 😈

Will be out at 06:30 on the wet roads with nothing more than an ass saver because I took the guards off to race today, and want to replace them with those nice carbon ones. Roads are terrible at the moment.

Conditions great around here at the moment, yesterday was cold with a bit of sleet but ground conditions generally good: lots of mud but not much standing surface water so pleasant to ride. Couple of hours on the cx bike for me later

I’ll ride today, was going to take the day off as it’ll be the 8th straight day of riding but got most of the day free so why not

Breaking trail on the fat bike yesterday. Turns out a 5″ fat bike is rather good fun in the snow. Who knew 🙂

Just looking at houses in the Inverness area last night – drawing up a 5 year plan. Looks lovely.

Drove almost to the start of the audax by which point light drizzle had turned to persistent sleety snow. Turned round and drove home.

Would feel guilty but have the house to myself!

I did the full length of the Rochdale Canal on the Arkose yesterday. I got the 7:12 train from Manchester on a £3 ticket I’d booked a fortnight earlier.

I’m glad I did it, I wanted to train flattish riding as I’m doing Manchester to Blackpool night ride in October for the BHF(Reason here), but the conditions were minging. I can also report Polaris Shredder boots are the least waterproof footwear ever invented. They were soaked before I’d even got to Hebden.

Things I learned:
The tunnel/long bridge just outside Sowerby Bridge is best not approached without lights on 35c tyres, some big gaps there that nearly caught me out (and the canal was drained so if I fell right I’d have been in serious trouble).
From the start to Summit is very stop/start so my average speed slowed right down from that I’d planned.
The canal through the city centre is almost unrideable, bits closed, steps too big for the drop handled bike, slidey death cobbles.
Right knee hurt after 40km, not sure if it’s a fit issue.
Planning a route that, 2/3 of the way through, passes within a few km of your house is pretty disheartening, particularly in poor conditions. I’d parked the car in manchester though so I had to carry on.

All in all I’m glad I knocked it out, if just to get used to that long in the saddle in grim conditions as part of my training,

And today I cleaned the bike from yesterday then went and lifted weights in the gym. Too windy today to be safe.

Earlyish spin from home over to Phillips park for a quick loop, set off in a freezing headwind, and came back in one, luckily missed the rain and sleet.

Full on Gavia Pass Giro d’Italia ’88 in Fife today. 45 miles in a howling gale with snow covered roads and horizontal freezing hail. Character building ride

Ended up doing a lap at Cwmcarn of the Cafall, did plan to do the Twrch too but my knees had gone numb 😆

A mix of mud, slush and snow. No grip in places and too much in others!

Bloody good fun though 8)

Another character building 40 miler here

Was about get the eldest Oddie Jr ready for Rugby and my arse in gear to go coach when i got the waterlogged pitch text.

Thought about going out on the CX for a bit for 1/2 a second until i decided another pot of coffee and some xbox was a much better idea.

I’ve ridden once so far this year and to be honest with the trails being underwater I’m really not bothered.

I’m getting 4 gym sessions in a week to keep me sane and rugby is taking up an evening and a morning each week.

That being said ROLL ON SPRING!

File thread gravel tyres meet their match in the Brecon Beacons today.

[/url]20170212_144042 by jamesanderson2010, on Flickr[/img]

We might have seen you 🙂 Me and a mate did the Cafall loop this am with heavy snow at the top for a few minutes. Dropped down Pedal Hounds instead of the longer finsh and had also planned a lap of Twrch but lack of time and numb toes/braking finger saw us head back tot he car park.

Well, Hayfield, Middle Moor and Lantern Pike today (amongst others). It was ‘fun’. It actually was fun, the ice and snow was mysteriously grippy, so it wasn’t a case of falling off every 100 yards. But it was bloody cold in the wind. I reckon the ambient temp was around 0-1 degrees Celsius, with wind chill I reckon about -8 to -10. I only really lost my fingers and toes for keeps about an hour before the end, so not too bad really. Getting changed in a windy car park was the worst bit as my fingers couldn’t undo stuff and pull clothing on quick enough and my feet were killing me. But all in all it felt great to be out as I’ve had a couple of colds since Christmas and missed a few night rides through work and other stuff. The ride organiser got nine out for the ride, which is really good as well.

I am now sitting down to watch the Scotland France match in a t shirt and I am boiling after getting so cold and thawing out.

Ladybower – Win Hill is invisible in the distance. Managed 7 miles in 2 hours of mostly pushing through hub deep snow

https://www.flickr.com/photos/147725841@N02/32823607306/in/dateposted-public/

Rode out from penistone on the tpt, over to langsett did couple of laps of mickledene edge and north america. Wasnt too bad, snow was rideable and was pretty grippy.