A cold and mixed bag of weather on a local road ride on the Cannondale Synapse Neo and a Catch up on Fresh Goodies inc Specialized Down Jacket

 

No cycling on Thursday or Friday due to some rather poor weather conditions! we had snow and lashing rain for more than 48 hours solid. It stopped raining last night so I managed to get out on my Cannondale Synapse Neo this morning. I forgot my camera, so sorry no pics of the ride but what a mixed back of weather I had. Started of just after daylight was coming through then I had freezing fog with a heavy drizzle, worst was around Crook area. Once I climbed up to Tow Law I had glorious sunshine and the Garmin went from minus -0.5 degrees to plus 2.5 degrees. The roads are in one hellava mess to say the least. I had flooded sections, over an inch of running water in some stretches, pot holes are just unreal and plenty of mud from the fields. There was still snow at the sides of the roads / fields on higher ground. The traffic was very busy on some short stretches of main road, everyone seemed to be in a mad rush. All in just over 36 miles in 2hrs 22mins, ave speed 15.3mph with just under 2500ft of climbing. I gave the bike a good wash, dry, lube and charge when I got back. Below is a photo of my route. Enjoy and hopefully more soon- 

Fresh Goodies - I ordered a Specialized men's packable down jacket from Specialized UK website for click n collect at Infinity Cycles. I am unsure just how well down jackets work when cycling but all the major cycling clothing brands seem to be jumping on the band wagon with them. If it is no good for cycling then it will be spot on as a casual jacket instead. More on this in an up coming Fresh Goods Sunday but the rrp is £200 and I paid £90 inc 48hr p&p. 

A while ago I bought a Assos Trail jacket from CRC but the zipper was just not right when trying to engage it at the bottom to zip up and when unzipping the jacket very hard to pull apart at the bottom. I contacted CRC and the return process is a pain in the arse to say the least as they said it had to go back as a warranty claim not a normal return. The jacket has been posted back but 8 days later they have not received it and I am out of pocket or no replacement jacket. I will have to try and chase them up next week to see what on earth is going on.