Some time ago, I booked today off work for one sole reason: to put in a nice long ride. However, when I was looking at the forecast last night, the most I was hoping for was a 3 hour ride based on the little cloud icons with rain drops. Then, when I got up this morning and it was snowing out, I remained optimistic and was still thinking 3 hour ride. Temps didn't increase by much, and my riding buddy for the day wimped out on account of the shite weather. So I suited up...merino socks and base layer, gore-tex socks, booties, wind panel tights and jersey, waterproof gloves...the whole nine yards, and headed out.
So yeah, it was pretty miserable out. Damp, windy and cold. As soon as I got going I didn't feel too bad at all. I headed across to Hull and north towards Old Chelsea. About 40-45 minutes in, it started raining harder and felt like the temps were dropping. This is when I started thinking "this isn't all that fun". Then water started seeping past the outer layers and onto my skin. First it was my arms, then hands,and then my lower legs. Cold and wet...not what I had in mind for a ride. At the 1 hour mark, and turned around and traced my route back home. My hands were getting colder and more wet...my waterproof gloves that I was raving about a few weeks back were letting me down. There was a seam at the base of the palm that seemed to be letting water in. On top of that, the sleeves from my jacket were funneling water into my gloves (next time, arm cuff will go OVER my glove cuff).
I got home after 2 hours, with cold, numb hands (followed by the burn of regaining sensation, OUCH!!). I didn't really feel like I got much out of my ride today, BUT it was 2 hours more than I would normally do in these types of conditions, so I have to at least take that away from today.
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