wild and woolly…

the Cornish Weather Gods grew teeth… things are a little different here at the mo compared to the last time I touched on this topic. Yesterday’s ride home from work was something of a brown-trouser affair as the winds were gusting to 80mph across the airfield… they were North-westerly too which means 15 miles of headwind… by the direct route. As one of my colleagues laughingly put it “you’ll have to tack…” which I suppose is exactly what I did, zigzagging through the lanes and seeking shelter behind the hedgerows. When the wind is that strong it’s not really a chore to ride against it, not like a boring old force six. A regular headwind is a pain in the arse for sure, but when it’s a gale 9 or storm 10 it becomes an epic battle for survival (well, nearly) against a raging beast… especially challenging if you’re on a fixed gear bike which I invariably am at this time of year.

This morning the winds were still raging, but down to a force 7-8, however with some heavy rain thrown into the mix. Maybe there’s something broken in my brain but I totally revel in conditions like that on my bike, having been through far far worse when expeditioning or mountaineering I can simply enjoy giving passing motorists, staring, a deranged grin as the water drips off the peak of my cap or scything through the floods that accumulate in the lanes. Mounts Bay this morning was a seething mass of white water and flat out into the wind was only around 10mph or so with the heaviests gusts knocking another 2-3mph off that. All money in the bank though, the tailwind home was epic.

I’m excited about tomorrow, it’s supposed to get worse again with storm force 10 winds and rain… If I have the legs I plan to battle my way down west to Sennen and Cape Cornwall, beauty spots in summer… raging maelstroms in winter.

Storms aren’t as much fun though as they used to be round here, as a kid power lines would be brought down regularly, before the electricity board buried them all, but we had an Aga in the house so with hot water and hot food it was all a bit of a novelty. Hooking up a car battery to the Scalextric and racing by candlelight while the storm raged outside. quality!

On another topic, I’ve just serviced my touring bike ready for the South America adventure, I have a feeling I won’t be on the bike for too many hours tomorrow so stay tuned and I might take you on a little guided tour of it. In the meantime here’s a twit dressed for rough weather… oh, that’ll be me then :o)