twenty four little hours

Sunday was planned for a proper ride, helvellyn and skiddaw were mentioned. All the rain had us erring, thinking about maybe hitting a trail centre instead if things were bad. By friday the forecast of a weeks worth of rain in one day and high winds we aimed even lower, meet at lee quarry and do graham's stw ride taking in bits of the Mary Townley loop. Sunday dawned (eventually) lots of heavy rain, blowing a gale and weather warnings and advice not to leave the house unless necessary, hmm. Crap weather chicken began, seriously considered calling the lads to see if they wanted to cancel but waited for one of them to make the call instead. No-one chickened out so, idiots that we are, we turned up got changed (in the rain), rebuilt Johnnies bike (in the rain) and set off up the the quarry (yep in the rain). We were getting blown about all over the shop and it was freezing, proper face numbing stuff. Faff stop halfway up my hands were already numb in my winter gloves, a few more lads came past, one was gloveless, his hands were bright red, looked like a beginner so I guess gloveless due to lack of kit rather than choice. Ouchy. No way were we heading any further from the cars so we just did a couple of laps of LQ. Wind was all over the shop, behind you one minute stopping you in your tracks the next. Pedalling down hills getting blown off line, scary. Tried the new pump track but a bit too advanced for us, old pump track was beset by wind so waste of time. I had a shot at the step down jumps but just the once. Social pace taking it easy and having a laugh. Went round for a second lap then Johnnies chainset exploded at the play area so we just descended straight to the cars and tried to get warm again. Pie stop at stubbins, awesome pies but a bit pricey. Just an hour and a half riding, well 90mins away from the car anyway, character building but as Johnnie said "I've already got lots of character building rides under my belt and stories to tell, I don't really need any more" Next time maybe I'll be the crap weather chicken :-) Then next day was glorious sunshine and gentle breeze, I was sweltering riding in to work and tailwind all the way home. What a difference a day makes eh?