04/10/08 - The Calm Before the Storm

Tomorrow is the Autumn Epic which I am now feeling slightly panicked by having entered. As ever trying to apportion blame, I am electing Lindsay for this particular imminent catastrophe..

The Met Office is reporting a 60% risk of disruption with the following forecast:

'There is a high risk of a severe weather event affecting much of Wales, the Midlands and East Anglia on Sunday. Exceptionally heavy rain is expected, with 50 to 80 mm in places, and perhaps in excess of 100 mm locally. The heavy rain could lead to flooding in some areas and cause disruption to outdoor events and transport networks.'

At least my cycling with Ben the other day should have me acclimatised to driving rain, but if I can't make up time down hill I am going to have the broom wagon nipping at my heels the whole way round.

Am I going to be a short cut candidate..? Perhaps.

01/10/08 - A Little Sibling Rivalry

Ben had been talking about cycling together for a long time, and when he pulled out an old mountain bike for me to ride I realised he has summed up my abilities and handed me a handicap (he saw) to suit. Even with the finer workings of a suspension mountain bike, I was going to find it hard to keep up with a sparkling new road bike.

Handicap - Scratch Cyclist..?

28 Handicapper..?

We were never going to manage a ride without rain (especially as it had been forecast for the entire week ahead) and as I changed the pedals, pumped up the tyres and checked the gears and brakes, down came the rain. It was a sign of things to come.


There is something spirit lifting about exercising in the rain - like running through sprinklers as a kid (although in this case more like jumping in a swimming pool fully clothed), but barely five minutes later it was raining so hard I felt like I was poking my head through a waterfall. I was laughing out loud, which was a curious reaction as inside I was cursing Ben for making me travel by road on a mountain bike. In reality I was just upset that it was going to take so much extra effort just to power myself 25miles.


We made it onto the A6, where the rain eventually broke for a while giving me the well earned chance to dust my brother on a few hills. Even on a mountain bike I hadn't lost my mean streak, but I have to admit my handicap didn't quite balance out my recent 2300 miles of touring and the fact Ben had never cycled over 10 continuous miles before.


The route along the A6 took us through Carnforth, Beetham, Milnthorpe and Leasgill. At Beetham we came alongside rolling hills, strewn with grazing sheep and split by the River Beta. Through the rain the open sided stone barns looked a little too inviting. Just past Leven Hall we joined the A590, then A591 to take us via dual carriageway into Kendal.


As we pulled up by Booths (Artisan) cafe, my feet felt like frozen prunes and all I could do was rip my shoes off and ring out my socks. Sat cowering in a corner in front of the shop, trying to regain the feeling of my sodden limbs, I looked one step away from being a tramp. If it wasn't for Ben's road bike sat next to me I could have imagined security coming to discretely move me along.


As we were eventually seated for food I warmed up, soothed by Ned's constant ramblings and a mug of hot chocolate - I didn't even feel remotely guilty that we had agreed to pop the bikes in the back of the car to get us back to Lancaster...