Nice weather for ducks.

Serves me right for waxing lyrical about how nice cycling can be on a sunny winter’s day, yesterday's ride was wetter than an otter's pocket.

I left the house just after 8am to head out to The Plains, Virginia, for a group ride with Team Z. As I left the city the weather was overcast and there was a light drizzle. No problem I can live with a bit of light drizzle and of course I had my trusty Gore jacket. As I got closer to the start of the ride the heavens opened. Everything in the US is bigger and this can include the rain, it was coming down so hard that I had the wipers on full speed and still couldn't see where I was going.

When I got to the start of the ride the rain fall had slowed but it was heavy and wintry and the temperature was sub 40 degrees (3-4 degrees Celsius). Everyone was getting dressed underneath their 'tail gates' and you could tell it was going to be a bad day by the way in which everyone got dressed in slow motion.

It is on the first really sh**ty ride that you realize just how unprepared for winter you can be. I had come prepared for cold but dry conditions. Luckily my clothing held up pretty well to the conditions especially my Gore jacket that repelled some pretty serious rain. The only part of my body that actually got cold were my feet. Neoprene is great for cold dry conditions but will not save you when it gets wet. I also put on wool socks which again work well in the dry but as soon as they get wet they have no thermal properties. On a practical level I did not have a plastic bag to keep my Cue Sheet (directions) dry and therefore I had to rely on others to navigate (not too clever).

The ride was supposed to be 38 miles but we took a wrong turn (unfortunately I think while I was at the front - sorry everyone) and ended up adding 3 or 4 miles to the end of the ride. I am supposed to be doing my base miles on fairly flat terrain but so far this has not worked out and this ride was probably the hilliest of the lot so far. End result is that my legs were really tight after the ride and my calfs felt a bit crampy on the 8 mile run at lunch today. It is probably even more important to warm down when your legs have been really cold but like an idiot I just jumped in the car at the end of the ride and rushed home to get a bath and unpack some more boxes from the move.

Lessons learned:

• When you go to a winter ride you need to have lots of clothing choices in your boot/trunk.
  
• You need a supply of plastic bags (little clear ones for your directions, phone etc. bigger ones for your wet gear post ride, you can also use them over your socks but inside your shoes if you want to stay dry).
  
• Your sunglasses have to be clean.
  
• Dark lenses are not much use when it is dark.
  
• Take warm dry clothes for after the ride (especially fresh socks).
  
• Always warm down - especially when your legs are chilled to the bone.
  
• Do not switch off. There were a couple of close calls on this ride and it is very, very hard to stop a road bike in the wet as you have so little contact with the road. When I get cold I tend to get lazy and normal bike routine e.g. eating can go out of the window. I didn't take any nutrition on this ride and just about got away with it. If I had been out 20-30 min longer I would have suffered for it.
  
• Quit your job and do your winter training in the southern hemisphere.