I was up and out early before sunrise to get a straight forward out n back ride in. I took the old railway line to Consett then turned left, then the Waskerley Way up to Parkhead. One the way up I turned off left at the top carpark and dropped down to the Waskerley reservoir to take a few snaps before climbing back up to the old railway line. As you would expect the old lines were frozen solid so it was fast going under tyre. Coming out of Lanchester valley the Garmin bottomed out at minus -8.6 degrees! I had plenty of layers on and my thicker winter gloves so all was well. You have got to keep reminding yourself to wiggle your toes around every 15 mins or so to keep the blood circulating. There was a few out and about on the way up but a lot quieter on the way back down. I had a slight tailwind going up so had a headwind coming back down. It was a very enjoyable ride to say the least. I stopped for a Kendal mint cake energy bar at the top but my water bottle was frozen. I managed to get half a mouthful of freezing cold slush from my bottle to wash the bar down. All in just over 40 miles in 3hrs 1 min with 1800ft of climbing.
Below are a few snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon -
Out before sunrise, still dark so put my front light on
A little nippy coming out of Lanchester towards Consett
Beautiful winter sun all the way up the Waskerley way
Long winter sun shadows
Down to the reservoir, steady on the fast corners!
Oh dear not much to drink!
Lines still frozen in the way back, temperature never got above 0.0 on the Garmin.
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