Etape du Dales & wet shorts

[huw williams]

Mere words cannot describe the horror!

However, after 7hrs, 28minutes and 39seconds I feel I am in a position of some authority on wet shorts and rashes (see saturday club-run thread)

Yes the problem is greatly increased in wet conditions so almost certainly that's what all of you are suffering from

You can alleviate the problem with copious amounts of chamois cream

No place for the faint of heart this, grab a huge handful of the stuff and apply liberally. I did it yesterday for the first time and finished rash-free

[kieran]

Thanks for the advice Huw, hopefully I won't have to test it next weekend. On Sunday I was thinking about you lot doing the etape, and you're repeating it next week!

[huw williams]

I'm not starting if the weather's like that again! EVER!

[Gavin]

I'm not going to wales if the weather forecast is heavy rain.

[huw williams]

And you'd be right not to. There were 200 riders (out of 650 entries) who didn't start yesterday - they were the lucky ones!

[siwickm]

If it is raining I may go canoeing on lake Bala instead if anyone fancies it, does not matter if its raining when you are canoeing as you will get wet anyway. We could try and Canoe 100km instead.

Cheers

Marek...

[Dr Frigo]

Good idea!

[huw williams]

If it's like yesterday I'll just go and stand in the lake for 7 hours - at least my legs won't get knackered

[Phil L]

Watch out for the pikes Huw, and they may not just go for your legs !!!

Just a personal question for you chafing chappies ... do you go au naturale under your shorts??

[Jon H]

Eee, by eck it's grim oop north.

The Yorkshire weather forecast in a previous thread was spot on; "If you can see the hills it's going to rain, if you can't see the hills it's raining". For the first half of the ride I could see the hills, and very nice the views were too. But somewhere around the halfway point the first drops of rain appeared, invited their friends along, and soon they were busy bouncing off the ground and joining up to form rivers running down the roads.

I rode most of the route at my own pace, but joined up with small groups at four places on the flat(ish) parts along the valleys. One of these I regretted, as sitting in the the group meant I was doing less work and got so cold I started having trouble changing gear because my hands were going numb. I was glad when we got to the next big uphill so I could start working hard again. And as it was the last one, it meant the pain and suffering was almost over. Once over that it was into time trial mode down the last valley to the end, finishing in 7:24:44.

The scene at the HQ afterwards was something like a refugee camp after a great flood, with riders soaked to the skin waiting in line for hot food and drinks.

[Gavin]

How fast can a canoe go 100km seems like a really long way isn't it?

[Toks]

Bloody Hell hats off to you boys! Jack said he saw quite a few of you at the start. That sounded Effing horrible. Jack was quite happy he finished it in 7hrs 15mins. I hear the winner did it in under 6 hours - Jesus!

[huw williams]

I set off at 6.30 to avoid as much rain as possible - unfortunately that meant riding solo for 90 miles, no groups - I only saw about 6 other riders (out of 450 starters) all the way around.

I hate time trialling for 20 minutes, so 7 hours alone felt well hard! Good mental training though. It was like being on the moon up on top of Tan Hill, absolute desolation

When I set off there were a couple of pro racers just ahead of me with support cars, the lot, so I'm guessing those guys went around pretty quick

[Conor Cormican]

Well Huw & Jon I must agree with everything you said about the weather in Yorkshire. The big mistake that Brian and I made was not starting at 6.30 to get the best of the weather, we started at 8.30 and the first few hours were ok. I battled on and thought I was doing very well having managed to do all the hills as far as Nateby then the course changed direction into the wind and driving rain. I struggled on and now know what its like to swim on a bike for 50 miles or so. I arrived back at the 9 hrs 54 min from starting having done 114 miles, (followed some cyclists that were not on the ride) I could not take my gloves off because of the numbness in my fingers, after that the shakes started. Luckly we were staying in a B&B about 10 min away. A long hot shower and a short time under the douvet with the electric blanket on high got the core temperature up and all was ok. That was the hardest days cycling I have ever done and I hope never to have to do anything like it again, a real test of character.

[huw williams]

Connor - I was thinking that anyone who started late would be in for a tough day but your a genuine hero for finishing in those conditions - I only had three hours of freezing rain which almost killed me, you must have had closer to six. Awesome!