The Border Raid 600

[MSeries]

June 6th

"Out via Yad Moss and Alston and into the Scottish Borders. To Kelso and Mofffat, then south to cross Shap and on to Sedburgh. Return via Wensleydale."

4000m of climbing, some spectacular scenery, great preparation for LEL.

The Border Raid

Will I see you there ?

[Greenbank]

No can do. I'd love to give it another go after the dreadful weather last year that saw me pack at Galashiels.

Good training ride for LEL as it follows pretty much the same route from Aldbrough St John over Yad Moss and all the way to Brampton.

From there the Longtown to Kelso section (via Newcastleton, Bonchester Bridge, and Jedburgh) is not that dissimilar to the B709 from Langholm up through Eskdalemuir. You'll see Traquair/Innerleithen on the Border Raid anyway, but going West rather than North/South.

[red marley]

I'd really love to do this ride. It is a fantastic route and if the weather is half decent, is quite possible with a civilised sleep stop in a Travelodge or similar.

Counting against it for me at the moment are (i) still recovering from the Brian Chapman (seemed to have picked up a bit of a nasty cough); (ii) it clashes with the Rural South which is another one of my favourite rides; (iii) I am still a little scarred from last year where I experienced the worst ever weather on an Audax (yes, worse than PBP and Brian Chapman). I'm not sure I could cope with that again.

I'll see how I feel by the beginning of next week.

[Deano]

Aye, I'll be there.  It starts about 6 miles from my doorstep...

It'll be my first 600, and it'll complete my first SR series.  Gulp.

[scottlington]

Decided against doing this AND the Irish Mail the following weekend. May do the Rural South instead as I really enjoyed it last year.

[Deano]

It's pissing down here in Darlo.

The weather forecast predicts it'll be pissing down all weekend.

I spent a couple of hours last night in a fruitless search for my waterproof gloves.

I'm going shopping for gloves now.

[Humpdoc]

Is there such a thing as waterproof gloves?

Discuss...............

[Chris S]

Is there such a thing as waterproof goves?

From yesterday's experiences (only a sometimes wet 200, so barely qualifies me to comment) I'd say no.

My waterproof gloves seem to prevent my hands from getting wet, but only by absorbing the water before it gets to my hands - which leads to gloves that weigh a bleeding ton!

[Greenbank]

Is there such a thing as waterproof gloves?

My latest trick is to wear Spesh BG long finger gloves (very light and thin, and have gel padding). If it's wet then they get soaked through but, since there's not much material to them (and therefore they don't hold much water) they tend to stay quite warm.

If my hands do start to get cold I'll put on a pair of Altura Altitude waterproof gloves over the top of these. These are fleece lined and putting them on over wet long finger mitts just works for me, my hands warm up in no time even though they're still wet. The whole lot does get soaked, but the important bit is that I stay warm.

Warm and wet is easy to cope with.

I packed on the BR600 at Galashiels last year because of the weather. I was just miserable, slow and it wasn't going to get any better.

[chris]

I wear Altura glove liners under my mitts. They take up very little space in the saddlebag, but do a surprisingly good job of keeping hands warm. I have a pair of Goretex lined lobster mitts, but I find them too warm, even when wet. I can't remember the last time that I got cold hands wearing the liners, but then I used to sail all year round only wearing sailing mitts (similar to cycling mitts).

[Chris N]

Is there such a thing as waterproof gloves?

Extremities Tuff Bags

[Weirdy Biker]

Stop at a petrol garage and take some of the free disposable gloves on the forecourt.  Put them next to your skin with your gloves on top and tuck the "collar" into your rain jacket.  Your hands will get sweaty but stay warm.

[Humpdoc]

I was with Bob Johnson on the Cambrian 600 this weekend he had a pair of Assos Insulator Gloves.

If they are good enough for him.....