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Westerley event one year
The 2014 winter warmer - the first event I organised!
In hindsight I should have cancelled, and I would do now. But I fudged it then and said we would leave it up to riders - refund if you want or ride at your own risk.
We got caught out by the temps dropping more than forecast overnight (as they always do!) and it froze when it wasn't expected to. The route went up Bottrells Lane, which is always wet, and it was slippy as. Riders down everywhere. Nobody got (majorly) hurt, thankfully.
I rode the whole thing, mainly because I felt I ought to, and after that first section it was clear of ice. The following year I re-routed it to avoid Bottrells Lane, and we've never had a cold morning with ice since.
I think these might actually be your pictures
2 Attachments
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frank9755
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Hmm, maybe there were two icy rides then. I do remember turning around on Bottrells as riders were going down. But the one I was thinking of I didn't even make it out to the lanes.
I guess I got more risk averse. I can't find the winter warmer in my rides list. Hmm..
Do you remember the date?
I see in my calendar
Westerley RR
Sunday, 12 January 2014but no notes
Ah, I found it.
You can see where I turned around at Bottrells and did main roads instead.
hippy
I rode it late November 2018 according to my calendar.
There was no risk of ice when I rode it. I generally don't go out if it's icy, having seen poor Desi break bones on totally invisible black ice corner many years ago.
It's a pretty easy call - if it's been wet and then the temp drops near zero - I'll be having second thoughts and depending on how hard it is to get to the event, will make a call.
I started a Willesden or Westerley event one year and didn't make it to Uxbridge - because there was ice around I turned around. I'm not ruining a whole season for one winter ride (nah, instead I'll ruin it with one summer ride!).