I’m generally a “no such thing as bad weather” and “make the most of what you’ve got” type, but I think it’s the relentless nature of the weather these days that’s the problem. They used to say that, “if you don’t like the weather in Scotland just wait an hour and it will change” but now it seems that we get stuck in these weather patterns. Whether that is months of hot dry weather (2018) or this pattern of storms.

First week I just rode in the woods and it was fun. Second, the same but now I’m wanting to try something different. Still I dare say there is a Strava section nearby with a stonking tailwind. So, every cloud …

I’m normally pretty mellow about the weather but this is really starting to get on my tits.

Every February I go to Scotland with a group of cyclists/walkers. Yes, we often get wet, cold etc. but it is largely v. enjoyable. This year was Skye and was definitely not enjoyable due to constant rain very strong winds and horrible ground conditions.
I left early and am feeling very unmotivated to even clean my bike. The good news is that it’s not that dirty as the rain washed most of the mud off.

but now it seems that we get stuck in these weather patterns

aye, there’s a polar front that extends down over Canada that forces the jet stream to be low (geographically) over mainland USA which then speeds it up and alters it’s course which fires it straight over the Atlantic and brings warm and wet weather to us from the South West. It repeats every 7 days or so, which is why we are having (Atlantic) low (pressure) after low after low…there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight to the pattern.

Getting seriously fed up with sandbags and mopping up though. It’s not until you get a slight breather that you realised how stressful it is and why you have a constant headache and knotted shoulders, and then you just hunker down for the next one.

…which is why I’m poking fun at the softies who won’t ride their bikes in the wet and cold and not at people suffering from serious problems…

Most of the stuff i do just now is picking the driest area with DH/jumps/etc and just going and practicing, not much cycling but trying to get the skills up and just doing miles through the commute, will need to get fitness back for the good weather, but the UK through winter does tend to be wet at the best of times.

Have been doing a lot of road riding recently to get the miles in but utterly fed up with that now so embraced the wildness of it all and did four hours on my singlespeed this morning in the wind and mud. Really enjoyed it. Variety is the spice of life.

…which is why I’m poking fun at the softies

I’ve been on the rollers and while I was on them I thought you’d come back with this sort of half arsed shit. If you want to poke fun, tell better jokes, if you want to be a edgelord, don’t apologise afterwards, make you r mind up.

Idiot.

I think it’s the ground conditions annoying me most – worried about damaging trails further if I’m off road.

Plus the bike cleaning – even road rides result in a bike and drivetrain in desperate need of a decent clean up. And 40mph gusts are my limit for safe riding, I’ll be honest.

Hopefully colder and drier this coming week. Just stuck studded tyres on the spare wheels in case the towpaths turn icy, determined to get back on it this week

Idiot.

Bit harsh fella. He clearly wasn’t having a dig at folks who have been flooded..

Tbf I don’t mind road riding in the rain, the kit is so good nowadays. but it’s the wind that destroys me. Last week I found myself doing 250 watts into the wind, flat road…9mph..

Still I dare say there is a Strava section nearby with a stonking tailwind.

Got a couple of PBs on the uphill track over Barden Moor this morning. The acceleration was like being little again and getting a massive shove from your dad.

There was a downside on the way back, mind you. 🙂

Met Office up to its recent tricks again…

From last Sunday, it reckoned it would be a showers day today.
Then suddenly yesterday it changed to being a dry day, so I got hopes up of a post work outdoor ride.
However, the original forecast was correct, I got wet on delivery and despite the mild temp, there’s still plenty of standing water that I dont want over me; my clothes or my bike’s drivetrain.

Looks like Weds after work might be the earliest possible dry outdoor ride. 🙁

Just taken a walk into town and it’s almost t-shirt weather! 13 degrees, warm wind, I’m sweating away in a hoody and t-shirt whilst people are walking around in big coats, scarves, gloves and hats 😮 going out for a run in a bit, if the trails weren’t under 1ft of mud it would be a lovely day for a ride…

In Scotland it’s 40 mph winds with a bit of snow for good measure. This morning we even had a bit of thunder at same time..I didn’t think snow and thunder at same time was possible!!

In Scotland it’s 40 mph winds

Maybe in Edinburgh, 60mph here gusting to 100.

Off on Monday for a couple of weeks wild camping™ in the Highlands, should be great fun.

Been pretty wet and windy down here SE coast, nowhere near as bad as elsewhere in the country, but enough to make the daily commutes a drag. Trying to fight off a (possible/undiagnosed/why bother see the doctor) chest infection, and rigid commute mtb out of action, so taken the burlier hardtail, lots of head/cross winds on way to work, it all just made the week harder work than I felt it should be! It was 5C earlier in the week, felt colder, and today, I’m outside cleaning the commuter ready for working on it with just a t-shirt on my top half. Might be shit riding by most standards, but at least the chalk in the area and openness of the tracks means they don’t take too long to drain off, and the amount of rain has actually caused quite a bit of erosion making them more fun if I put the effort in.

I’d been considering it for a while, then at the start of the month a good deal came up so I went for it… I bought an E-bike.
I average 6000 miles a year, about half of which is commuting. 32 mile round trip, eastwards in the morning, then a chore of a ride home, usually into a headwind, but anything over 16 mph I generally sack it off. I aim for at least twice a week.
Since getting the E-bike I’ve rode nearly everyday, barely using the battery on the way in as the wind is so strong, then instead of shaking my fist at the sky I’ve been sticking two fingers up and powering through it on the way home with a smile on my face, often taking the hilly route as its now no slower and I get two cracking descents on the way. Its also the most inappropriate commuter, full suspension with 2.8 tyres, yet its no slower then my dedicated commuter and much more fun, as well as feeling safer.
I’m coming up to 500 miles for the month now, I’d have barely cracked 100 on my analogue bikes in this weather.

Well we went out. It was better than expected. We had very low expectations though 😉 Our favourite pub on the river was completely flooded out. No flood insurance (as in they can’t get any) so they’re working really hard to get it back open.

On the upside we still had a good time sliding about, and all that Turbo work appears to have done me some good.

Superb mdavids, that’s a result. 👌🏻

Wouldn’t mind an ebike myself for powering through the local slop.

Happy to mainly do gym/running instead though. Will be out on the MTB tomorrow though, expecting the worst in terms of trail conditions obvs.

Well, this morning was actually better than forecast – even saw the sun! Got a good ride in, before it started raining for the rest of the day…

Dunno if this will help or make matters worse, but it may be of interest for anyone missing dusty trails…

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/photo-epic-days-3-and-4-andes-pacifico-2020.html

I love it so much that I have been out in it all day, everyday this week!……………Actually I’m fekin sick of it! Only been out cos as a postie I have to do it. When not at work, I am not leaving the house unless it’s to go to the pub. I get in and out of my van over a hundred times a day and it’s really tiring fighting with the van door every time. It’s either trying to rip your arm off or trying to smack you in the face. Lost the best part of an hour today on diversions around flooded roads.

“was like being little again and getting a massive shove from your dad.”
👍
I went out for a ride , 20 very quick miles north and 20 slow,sweary miles back. bastid wind.

The current weather can sod right off. Wall to wall gales and rain. I usually love this time of year, bit of slop, bit of frosty crunch under wheels late at night, the odd dry sunny day to give a taste of spring round the corner. I’m not riding to prove a point about endurance or survival I’m trying to have a bit of fun between the more mundane bits of daily life.

The wind here has mellowed a little, but it’s up, so tomorrow’s commute is going to be hilarious again. It has meant that the rain has rolled through quite quickly though, so less of a problem for commuting.

But… It is, no shit, perfect skydiving sky right now and I am missing the skies a lot. Apart from the likely -20 C at altitude of course will a 200kph wind chill…

I’ve started driving to the shop.
It’s only half an hours walk there and back but I’ve had enough.

Never thought that I’d be one of ‘those’ people.

Rain blew through. Thinking of a 15 mile road bimble on the lanes, but my route appears to involve amber flood alerts, which is fine – last week it was under a foot of water as the “brook” got ideas above it’s station.

I knew the cafe that my cycle club were riding to, it’s only a couple of miles from mine. I had considered riding to their meeting point 15 miles away, riding with them to the cafe then cutting off home but typically, it was rainy and windy this morning. So I ran to the cafe.

Nice couple of miles running along the off-road (more of a river) track, met them at the cafe. They were all soaked and cold so I was glad I’d missed the riding part of the day!

That’s how bad the weather is – it’s made me go running!

16 degrees on the cars outside temperature gauge just now.

16 degrees, dry, sunny, 40mph winds. 🤣

I’m going running instead of riding this arvo myself, even though the sun’s peeping out here now.

Probably for the best as I’m training for a half-marathon anyway.

Second day in a row of single speeding for me this morning. The wind is definitely the worst bit. Made sure it was in my face on the way out so the return journey was a hoot. Sun even came out for about 1 minute which was a treat.
Properly tired now after grinding through thick mud for 8hrs in two days.
Bluebell leaves are up now. It needs to dry up soon. Night rides on tacky trails through the bluebell woods are one of my favourite things ever.

I’ve fully had enough of the wind. I’ve been working on a tower block for 6 months and I think the cranes been winded off at least once a day for the last 3 month, in the last 2 weeks its worked for a day and will probably be out till Friday this week

It’s the relentlessly high winds that are such a downer. One weekend you can handle, but we’ve had three consecutively and next weekend is forecast for more of the same. There’s no end in sight.

I’ve been doing a lot of running through the woods and along the riverbank where it’s sheltered, but it’s not enough. I need a solid 6/7hrs on the bike. I just know that the first doable weekend that comes along, I’m going to bite off more than I can chew just out of sheer desperation.

Sincere sympathies to those for whom the consequences are more than just the pursuit of leisure. Flooded homes awful.

Feel for you guys. In Queensland, as long as you can manage the heat and humidity (85% humidity +20c at 5.30am at the moment), there’s really only a few weeks a year when it’s just too damned wet.

Well, after getting out for a run in yesterday’s relatively balmy climes we are now snowed in! 😂😂😂

I’m another in the ‘generally stoical, but this is starting to get on my tits’ camp.

And the attrition rate of clothes, shoes and componentry is something to behold.

Meh, weather is ‘challenging’ but i’m getting some commuting miles in where I can. plus the dogo’s are getting a lot of walks/runs in. They have to go out so we make the most of it!

I’m drawing the line at local off-road riding though, jeez the trails I ride are a mess! I know spring is on her way and the plants and trees should start sucking some of the moisture up soon but I<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”> dread to think how long it will take for the trails to dry out enough.</span>

Actually feeling moderately fulfilled on the weather front….. After much cogitation I stuck with the weekend plan for coniston.
Sat in the car for an hour extra waiting for rain to subside then did a 50km loop from Blawith over Parkamoor, through grizedale then round to coniston. Up walna scar road and then down some ridge back to the road. The bit up walna scar was epic. Huge winds roaring off the Old Man. Could barely push the bike at times. Got dark just at the summit and was all looking a little bit spicy. Thankfully it stayed just the right side of spicy…. But great to have a proper adventure again of the type you can’t really take the kids/family on