-
Wow, it's so terrible you got rained on and had to slow down to deal with the weather conditions - the rest of us sauntered into London under a gleaming sun and saw not a hint of bad weather.
Erm, the graph I posted kinda shows everyone rode at their level of ability, on average. Yeah, some people may had gotten held up at points but the lack of lumpiness suggests it all came out in the wash. Pun unintended.
Maybe it's because I do more touring/audax than sportives, but my basic understanding is that you dress for the weather and then it's mainly just a case of doing what you normally do slightly slower so as not to crash. Yeah, the weather as insane - but riding through all that shit put a smile on my face. Fuck you, god, with your pansy thunder and floods! I'm on a bike, motherfucker, try stop me.
h2o-
I didn't say it was terrible that it actually happened; just that it was a shame because I didn't get to fulfill my training's potential on the day. Is that alright with you? Can I lament that things didn't work out as I hoped? Or am I obliged to take perverse pleasure in my (relative) suffering?
I'm no hard guy, okay, and conditions like that have me under the cosh. I dressed for it, but unless I wanted to sweat like a bastard under waterproofs, I had limited protection against a level of precipitation that I last saw in the tropics.
The_Kindness_of_Trees
I second that, |³|MA3K.
My first and last hours were okay (I started at 7.25) but the ones in-between were horrendous - people crashing, skidding, and a constant parade of people dealing with punctures. When the heavens opened, just past Hampton, I was soaked to the skin within 5 minutes. I lost all feeling in my thumbs and toes soon after, and my average speed plummeted from around 20 mph to somewhere around 16. Every depression in the road became a ford, torrents of water ran down every incline. On top of the surface water, I had hard rain hitting me in the face for about 3 hours solid.
The most galling thing about it was I had the legs but was too paranoid about my body expending energy in keeping me warm to take full advantage of the fact.
The only compensation was that I felt I handled my bike well, not sliding or skidding once. And, mercifully, when I punctured I did so where cover was available.