Well, it looks like we missed the snow and ice bullet however it was more of a Chilly Willy than a Willy Warmer this year, with many riders reporting that after a fine morning the temperature plummeted down to -4C at times through the afternoon. whilst in Chalfont we continued to bask in a balmy 3-4C most of the day and into the evening. That's the trouble with these moder Garmins; sometimes it is better not to know these things! Some old hands thought last year was tougher when we had some rain but most riders looked as though they had been in a fight by the time they rolled up to the Arrivee, and Caroline was kept busy in the kitchen preparing hot snacks.
The dust is yet to settle but overall we had about 150 entries with 115 on the road and 100 finishers. This is up from 105 entries and ~80 riders for a typical year pre-PBP, and it seems safe to say numbers would have been higher were it not for the threatened Icegeddon.
About half of the DNFs pleaded fitness to retire en-route and the remainder soldiered on to finish 'Out Of Time'. Chapeau to them for persevering, especially the later finishers who encountered sleet along the way. Not nice. In fact two intrepid souls were on the road after midnight - I suspect they learned the lesson that unless you're a fast type, when it comes to winter events every minute spent in a control is a minute spent riding in the cold dark night... Still, everybody who made it back to Chalfont looked very happy, if only because 'it was over' and they could relax in the warm.
A big well done and thanks to all those tho took part, and special thanks to Gary and Pat, controllers at Pangbourne and Hungerford (first time out for Gary!), and Liam, Ian & Caroline at Chalfont. Excellent!
