Its cold up North - minus -8.5 degrees ride up to Hownsgill / Rowley n back

 

When I set off in the van this morning it was reading minus -6 degrees and there was no sunrise. I parked up at the Lambton Worm and drop on the old railway line / C2C towards Consett. With the wind chill factor the Garmin dropped to minus -8.5 degrees at one pint. I had loads of winter layers on so was not feeling the cold. My water bottle froze up within half an hour! The forecast was a sunrise and sunny from 6.40am but the sun was an hour late I was just outside Annfield Plain. On the plus side there was very few other users out on the line. Even with the sun out it did not warm up that much. I stopped quite a few times on the way up for some snaps as I did not plan on stopping on the way back down. Once I turned and returned started descending I had a freezing cold headwind. I was only a few miles away from the worm and there was a snow shower, see video clip at the bottom of the blog. All in 28.5 miles in 2hrs 7 mins with 1200ft of climbing. Enjoy the mix of freezing cold looking snaps and sunny warmer looking snaps below. Hopefully more soon but forecasted nearly 2 days of snow, wait and see. 

Superstore Wilderness, by the makers of The Ride Journal

 Superstore Wilderness, by the makers of The Ride Journal, which was a cracking magazine. I have ordered a copy from Newstand, should land soon. 

Freezing cold windy but sunny ride through to Bishop Auckland n back

 

Well we woke up to a covering of snow and it was looking really cold. I waited until the rush hour died off a little then had a drive through to Langley Moor and parked up. From there I joined onto the old railway line to Bishop. There was no snow over that way and it felt warmer with the sun out but again the NW wind was freezing. The line was frozen so only a couple of wet puddles. It was busy going through but quieter on the way back. When I reached Bishop market place I called in past Fifteas Tea Room for a takeaway sausage buttie / sarnie. It is always worth every penny, beautiful. The line was starting to defrost in places on the way back with the sun and I had more of a headwind back. All in 19.5miles in 1hr 40mins with 550ft of climbing. Below are a few snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon - 

Trek Procaliber 9.8 paintwork popping in the sunlight

Fitted my Wildcat top tube / seat post bag with an additional spare inner tube, C02 and lock

New Silca pump is looking good! 

Refuel time! 

Lovely place to park your van! nowt like putting it to one side alittle

Fresh Goodies - Gorewear Endure, Berghaus M Stormcloud Prime Insulated Jackets. Fitted Silca Mini Pump

 

On Saturday my new Gorewear Cycling jacket landed from Wiggle. I need to open it up and try it on. Angus took my last Gorewear Fluro yellow jacket for his running and did not return it! 

Also when we were at Team Valley a couple of weekends ago I bought new new outdoor jacket from Go Outdoors. I have full rainproof jackets, showerproof jackets, and insulated jackets but not one that is both so I bought this Berghaus M Stormcloud Prime Insulated jacket. I used it during my hike yesterday as it was freezing cold with the wind and forecast rain. Well it was warm enough with the cold wind but never tested out how waterproof it was! More on this in an up coming Fresh Goods Sundays after more use. 

And finally I managed to find the time to fit my new Silca mini pump. I was going to fit it to my Specialized Creo gravel bike but thought it would be better on my Trek Procailber as the tyres have bigger air volume, lets hope I don't need to use it very often! Again more on this in an up coming Fresh Goods Sunday. 

QWERTY CYCLES (Cannondale) Sale