Round the I.O.W tomorrow, heavy rain and winds - should I go or have a lie in?

[Fab Foodie]

well how did it go , we are all waiting

Well wait no more!

We hit the Island about 9.30 ish, me Ken, Pete and Nick, despite some light rain in Lymington, Yarmouth was dry and sunny. In fact starting with Gilets and waterproofs, we soon stopped to shed layers. Mostly it was sunny and we set off at a cracking pace. On the whole, unremarkable riding really, rolling over the undulating terrain reasobnably well (apart from my middle chainring finally gave-up he ghost, leading to interesting shift patterns on my triple. The ever present threat of rain was there, but mostly we were dry and warm and enjoying the scenery.

Due top a lack of miles over the last 5 weeks or so, I started to struggle with the pace at around 30 miles, especially uphill with my awkward gearing. A gel and a good drink saw me recovering some form for the climb from Niton to Blackgang. Here the weather broke and we finally hit the headwind and rain. I climbed steadily and meeting the rest at the top in a gale we retired to the 'Wight Mouse' for lunch and 50 miles covered. And guess what? The rain had cleared and we were back in the warm and dry again.

Refreshed we again made good pace, but I still struggled over the IOW's particular style of rolling terrain. We were happy and dry. Once on the coast road towards Freshwater, we hit the wind again and the big climb over the cliffs loomed in the distance, but once again, on the long pulls uphill I rode OK and we celebrated atop and took photos (I'll add shortly). Nick said with black clouds gathering that we should keep moving and he was right! 5 metres down the hill, it rained like hell, a 20 mph headwind, huge raindrops and our 20 mph velocity made for an unpleasant and soaking few minutes until shelter at the bottom of the hill. The rain soon passed and we dried-out over the last few minutes to the ferry.

Traffic on the M27 and M3 was really bad and we made it home for 8!

I'm very tired. We had a good day, hard riding I think for even the fittest under the circumstances. 13mph average, not bad considering the terrain, but I should have been fitter. And we made the right call and got lucky this time!

For those who have never 'Cycled the Wight' It's a worthy challenge. Today was BHF day and the numbers were quite poor on the roads, maybe the forcast put people off. If you do the ride, it's worth remembering that almost none of the island is flat...

You'll have a good and demanding day out though