Today's Ride

Today's Ride wasn't actually today. It was yesterday. But I'd thought I'd post since I felt I had for a while been making the right Vital Choices. And we know what the Vital Choice in mountain biking is. It's '....and what shall I wear today so that I am not too cold/hot/wet/fed up/burnt/soaked/bruised?....'

So this weekend the Beeb said SUN! 14 deg!

But it was actually effing chilly at 7am albeit bright. And I knew under the dark canopy of the forest on the slip slidey rootiness and leaf mould that it would be dark and damp.

So....

Cyclogy thermal. Quite thick
I nearly always wear a mesh underlayer even in the Summer, which keeps me cool in summer and warm on cooler days, and move to those thicker stretch thermals around about now.
https://www.cycologygear.co.uk/coll...too-black-mens-long-sleeve-cycling-base-layer
Then a Loose Riders baggyish top. Quite thin.
This is the standard contemporary baggy DH sort of jersey. Far too cold by itself since breezy and baggy.
https://www.pedalz.co.uk/products/l...MInabGtOmMggMVjJSDBx3RDQXPEAQYAiABEgJ_vvD_BwE
Then over that, a PH insulated gilet. Lightly insulated front with thin rear.
I like supporting them since they manufacture locally in Italy, close to their design offices.
Ignore the punitive price, I got mine through the trade for 30gbp
https://www.phapparel.com/prodotto/power-man-padded-thermic-vest-military/
Some POC long finger gloves.
Endura 3/4 shorts.
Sam Hill 7IDP knee pads
Giro socks.
Five Ten Freeriders

Many puddles so lots of splashing...plenty chilly under the canopy even though pushing hard. And just the right body temperature when riding. Hurrah.

And Today's Ride on Friday was interesting clothing-wise too. Sun on the way in and I forgot that I had loaned my Ion very lightweight rain layer to a friend. So when it started raining - quite hard - just before leaving for the 18k ride home on the Rat I was cursing. I had the same Cyclolgy thermal base layer as above, plus a thermal training jacket - like this:

https://www.cycologygear.co.uk/coll...spot-me-mens-black-long-sleeve-cycling-jersey
Bought for 40.00 in their sale.

Neither is waterproof, being brushed polyester. But interestingly, I remained really dry even in quite heavy rain, since my body heat evaporated the water before it touched my skin, very much like the Paramo concept. The jacket was saturated and the thermal wet to touch on the outside, but I was toasty warm and dry. Now I thought that was interesting and will exploit the effect again. But also not forget my thin rain jacket again. I find thick waterproofs are boil in the bag and soaking with condensation after fifteen minutes but resort to them in the deep winter.

Rapha Loopback trousers were wet but warm.
Five Ten District leader shoes stayed dry on the inside.
https://bikerumor.com/five-ten-gets...cycling-shoes-plus-killer-new-approach-shoes/
There we go...finally some decent clothing decisions...
 
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10-11 degrees, felt like 8-9 with a 10-12 mph SW breeze. Damp roads but not as soggy as Sunday. High broken cloud giving way to clear skies. A thoroughly good early-doors scoot about with the lights doing a great job alerting me to kamikaze rabbits and small birds. Thankfully no strikes.

JvvR2N.jpg


St Mounts bay still having a lie-in.

JiDbwR.jpg


Time to shoot down to Madron 👍
 
Tried to make up for a rather poor week on the bike today by doing a 32k hilly loop south of town. Weather was perfect, but I'd underestimated the impact of a 6k run yesterday and the legs were not up for heroic efforts. But it was good to be out in the sunshine so took it easy and enjoyed the views at my leisure.
 

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Ok, now I get why this sign "The requested topic does not exist." been poppin up on my screen for a couple of days. Made me sad. Happy to see it got re-started. Hope the "delete guys" can find the rest of it. And if not I guess we better start building on this one. Here's some pics from an evening ride in Gejlo up at 2500 ft in Norwegian mountains. Definitely cooler than Oslo.
Nice view
 
Today's ride happened yesterday. Early morning, neighborhood trails, onespeed. Was sprinkling and grey when I started, but Bob said I'd feel better on the bike.
IMG_20231028_074720234.jpg IMG_20231028_075754770.jpg IMG_20231028_075921667.jpg Things kept getting brighter and brighter until I made it to the river. There, I finally found what I was actually looking for, sunshine! IMG_20231028_083028055.jpg IMG_20231028_083231351.jpg
Bob's your uncle
 
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