No training this week due to work and other commitments so I have made an effort to cycle to work. Thursday I had to leave early to pick Imogen up from school and get her to the doctors for an appointment. Needless to say I got held up, charged out of work and jumped on the fixie to get me there. Now, of course, the fixie will only go as fast as your legs will turn the pedals and hence wheels. I steamed along Myton road, wearing my crisp new Castelli stowaway rain jacket against the light drizzle, only to hit a pot hole, stop pedalling (never a good idea on a fixed wheel bike), jump the chain off, wrap it round the crank which locked the pedals and thus the back wheel and hauled me to a spectacular stop outside Myton School, in a cloud of burning rubber. Much to the amusement of a waiting teenager. To make matters worse, in my haste to re-mount the chain and get to school on time, as I leant over my bag fell off my shoulder, I instinctively reached up to put it back on only to leave a big oily handprint on the shoulder. I reckon I’d worn it for 5 minutes before ruining it.
Friday I got a soaking on the way home which made for another high speed sprint. Saturday I managed an hour in the gym thanks to Beth finishing work early and Sunday I looked forward to a reasonably big ride.
The forecast was for a strong southerly wind, with heavy rain at 10:00 (I know but the Met really are that precise: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/wm/warwick_forecast_weather.html). Sure enough at 9:48 (I was travelling south towards it) the heavens opened. Imagine my smug face as I whipped out my castelli from my back pocket and snuck it on over the Rapha winter top. See how my face turned to despair as the showerproof nature of said top proved woefully inadequate for the raging tempest which followed. At one point I was desperate for shelter, the rain and wind hammering me, but just outside Banbury I was on open moorland with nothing in sight to hide behind, so onward I sped. Actually I thoroughly enjoyed the man against nature manner of the battle and although cold and soaked I didn’t mind although the warmth of the sun was welcome as I rode towards Stratford upon Avon. It was only as I stopped to take a bite to eat and put my feet down that I realised how cold. I’d not thought to put overshoes on and my feet were numb. To make matters worse the zip on the Castelli was stuck fast, to the extent that I pulled the tab off the zipper and had to struggle to get it over my head when I got home. So that’ll be going back to Winstanley’s. I hope they accept it with an oil stain and mud spatterings all over the back.
The deer didn't seem to mind
Friday I got a soaking on the way home which made for another high speed sprint. Saturday I managed an hour in the gym thanks to Beth finishing work early and Sunday I looked forward to a reasonably big ride.
The forecast was for a strong southerly wind, with heavy rain at 10:00 (I know but the Met really are that precise: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/wm/warwick_forecast_weather.html). Sure enough at 9:48 (I was travelling south towards it) the heavens opened. Imagine my smug face as I whipped out my castelli from my back pocket and snuck it on over the Rapha winter top. See how my face turned to despair as the showerproof nature of said top proved woefully inadequate for the raging tempest which followed. At one point I was desperate for shelter, the rain and wind hammering me, but just outside Banbury I was on open moorland with nothing in sight to hide behind, so onward I sped. Actually I thoroughly enjoyed the man against nature manner of the battle and although cold and soaked I didn’t mind although the warmth of the sun was welcome as I rode towards Stratford upon Avon. It was only as I stopped to take a bite to eat and put my feet down that I realised how cold. I’d not thought to put overshoes on and my feet were numb. To make matters worse the zip on the Castelli was stuck fast, to the extent that I pulled the tab off the zipper and had to struggle to get it over my head when I got home. So that’ll be going back to Winstanley’s. I hope they accept it with an oil stain and mud spatterings all over the back.
The deer didn't seem to mind
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