After a far more stressful weekend than I deserved, we are off to Wales again on the bikes. Now I’ve graduated to ‘Fair Weather Rider’ from ‘Only Method Of Transport’, we don’t ever go out unless it’s looking pristine. This is why I was surprised Aimi wanted to ride in the rain. Usually she’s reluctant unless the weather porridge is just right… but this trip she WANTS to ride in the rain! I’m not about to dissuade her, I’m hoping she will come to Dragon Rally next year.
But riding in the rain takes a bit of practice and faffing with your gear to get it working effectively. And by that, I mean, plugging up all the gaps that rain seeps into on long wet rides. My method works well for me, but it’s let down by ageing gear. I mean, I’ve had my waterproof trousers for about 7 years, and my jacket for over 15 years!
As with all waterproof trousers, I’ve got a leak in the crutch, the first place to go! And the jacket is doing incredibly well for it’s age. Certainly in really heavy rain it’s leaky in some places, but luckily we’ve only had light misty rain and at the halfway point, my body was surprisingly still dry! My butt on the other hand, is soggy and cold, much like Aimi.
Yesterday I taught her to change the oil and filter on her bike, its first service. We also tried to put on the exhaust but it just didn’t quite fit. Neither did the headlight grill, nor the purple levers… but most importantly we did fit the electric hook up for her heated vest. So even tho she had on 2 t-shirts, the heated vest, a hoody, the thermal liner inside the very good quality textile waterproof jacket… and the heated jacket was on, AND the heated hand grips were on, she was still cold. At the cafe we figured out why, her hoody has soaked up a lot of water, seeping up her body. She had also worn the gloves outside her jacket so water had run down her arms and filled them up completely. Gore Tex is waterproof in both directions, so by the time we stopped she basically had her hands in a frigid water balloon.
Finally we got to turn left and head up that small road behind the pub we stopped at last week. It’s a great road that snakes up and over a hidden pass, alongside a little lake, thru a beautiful forest and out into another valley. This popped us out right next to the Tremadog climbing cliffs I’m familiar with. And then 50m down the road we turned up a tiny private road into Aberdunant Holiday Park. I think we are going to have to take a walk around the park tomorrow because Aimi is so cold, she’s hoping straight in the bath. Surely it shouldn’t be this cold just after August?! She was a lot happier warm and fed, wrapped up in bed.
