Well the forecast was right for the back end of the week, three days of on and off heavy snow, freezing cold, windy and an odd sunny spell in between all that lot. Just as well as I did not have any spare time for a ride but last night I swapped over onto the 27.5" wheelset on my gravel bike, pumped up the tyres, oiled the chain and adjusted the cable tension on the rear mech as it has not been shifting as smooth on the cassette on the last couple of rides.
Today I drove over to Bearpark and parked up and dropped down onto the old railway line and headed towards Lanchester. There was a sharp overnight frost with the Garmin reading minus -3 degrees. The track was mainly frozen and so were the puddles so it was easy going under tyre. The sun was out so I knew it would not be like that on the way back. Once I was climbing out of Lanchester valley the Garmin dipped down to minus -4.1 degrees but did not feel that cold in the sunny parts. Once I reached Consett the snow was still lying so headed over Hownsgill viaduct towards Parkhead. The line was clear to start with but the further I went the more snow and ice there was. At the road junction I turned and headed back the same way. There was quiet a few dog walkers out but only a couple of other cyclists. As perdicted the frost had melted out of the line so was freezing cold black sloppy mess in places. Once back down to Bearpark I kept going to Broompark Picnic area, turned and back to the van. All in just over 30 miles in 2 hours 18 minutes with 1100ft of climbing, nice flat route.
Below are a few photos from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon-
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