The forecast was not looking too good for today, in fact it was forecast solid rain from 10am onwards so I decided to charge up my lights and fitted them last night ready for an early ride this morning. I also had to swap my wheels to my 650b Hunt wheelset, more on this in todays Fresh Goods Sunday later. It had stopped raining through the night so the roads / trails were still wet when I headed out at 6.30am. It was also pitch black! with sunrise at 7.44am I had just over an hour before it lightened up. I had planned on just doing a road loop but as I had my 650 x 2" tyres on I headed off road onto the old railways lines at Baxters Farm. I then headed towards Ushaw Moor and straight up through Water Houses to Stanley Crook. I did a short road loop around Stanley Crook before dropping back on the line down to Crook. I took the road from Crook to Willington and turned off left at the Coop back onto the railway line again. By now I was finished with the road and daylight was in so turned off all my three lights. It was cold, 3.2 degrees on the Garmin and its time to drag out my winter tights and winter boots now. My feet were freezing in my Sidi mtb shoes. There was also a very strong 27mpg wind which did not help. Once back at Baxters Farm I headed back home. It was only a couple of miles from home and heavens opened, over an hour early! All in 27.5 miles in 2hrs 4 mins and nearly 2000ft of climbing. Below are a few dark and lighter snaps from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon.
and a short video clip at the top of the climb on the old railway (Stanley Crook)
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