Wales: Hilly & Wet

Wales is a very green part of the world. It’s all the rain. Being charitable, you could say that it makes the plants grow. I think it just encourages green mold growth.

Anyway, according to the forecast for Sunday, it was to be a bright spring morning, with a 14 mph breeze blowing from the North West.

Yeah, right.

We set off for an amble through the countryside at just after nine, and after I misunderstood the initial instructions, and had to double back by 1/2 a mile to meet my riding partner again (headline: “Man Thinks He Knows Where He’s Going - Proven Very Wrong!”), it started to rain. Welsh rain. It looks like light drizzle. But it’s not.

Welsh rain is second only to the monsoons they get in the tropics. Actually it’s worse, because tropical rain’s at least warm.

But it was only a shower - 40 minutes or so, which was enough to get WET. Thankfully I was wearing a waterproof top, and those nice Sealskinz Goretex socks. My riding partner only had a windcheater on by way of water proofing, so she ended up decidedly soaked.  We spent the 40 minutes of rain goading eachother on not to turn back - “We’ll just do another few more minutes - if it doesn’t improve by then, you can turn back if you want”. That kind of thing.

When the rain stopped though, it was just perfect riding weather. So I let my riding partner lead the way - not too fast, but this was a social ride rather than a race. Heck - it even included a cup of coffee at the Llysyfran reservoir, which we took as our turnaround point.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 04/13/2008
• Total Time: 2:40:00.00
• Distance: 34 miles
• Average Speed: 12.75 mph

Filed under: Cycle, Wales