Willy Warmer 2018

[JohnL]

Time and Date = Drizzle
BBC = Heavy Rain
 

Not much difference. After 30mins you’re wet anyway...

John

[grams]

I've done the last two and there were miserable enough with dry weather. Kudos to everyone who makes it to the start tomorrow!

[Martin]

I've done the last two and there were miserable enough with dry weather. Kudos to everyone who makes it to the start tomorrow!

not my experience in any of the many times I've ridden; a very benign and scenic (with a small s)  route and the ups certainly help with the Warmer aspect without making any of it actually that challenging (apart from the fact it's a January 200)

[grams]

not my experience in any of the many times I've ridden; a very benign and scenic (with a small s)  route and the ups certainly help with the Warmer aspect without making any of it actually that challenging (apart from the fact it's a January 200)

The last part is my entire point! For me at least (as a full value rider) it's been a challenge against the cold to get to the finish.

[whosatthewheel]

Wet snow here... should be the same or worse there.
Glad I DNS... 
Shame, 'cause next week is supposed to turn mild

[Bagman]

Fully understand why some people DNS.
No snow, sleet or ice but it was very wet and cold.
Enjoyable ride in a funny sort of way!!

[Grandad]

No snow, sleet or ice but it was very wet and cold.
Enjoyable ride in a funny sort of way!!

Audax in a nutshell

[TigaSefi]

Very very cold!! Jesus! My fingers didn’t operate all day! Had to get another person to zip me up after a toilet break

[Fohat]

Great day out. Thanks to the organisers. Especially the person who took the garmin (with my maps on it) that I somehow left at the HQ, to the control. It meant I could continue instead of packing. Excellent! Saved the day!

[Whitedown Man]

Great day out. Thanks to the organisers. Especially the person who took the garmin (with my maps on it) that I somehow left at the HQ, to the control. It meant I could continue instead of packing. Excellent! Saved the day!

Manotea was your knight in shining armour. Glad you made it the rest of the way round.

[Thing2]

Splendid day out on the bike! The weather wasn't as bad as expected and for once we actually got the clothing selection right. Hands and feet got chilly at a couple points, but warmed up again nicely.
Thanks Paul, and all your helpers.

[mattc]

Being a lightweight, I merely rode down to Pangbourne for a natter, then headed home (using a bit of the calendar route), less than 3h ride total.

Weather was pretty shocking - I just about stayed warm enough (but no ice or other genuinely dangerous stuff). But it looks like the riders were actually a bit lucky with the conditions:

Today is now snowing, and is forecast wet for around 10hours. Friday (when a final route-check got ridden) there was ice around, making for quite a tricky ride - well done that man 

January eh? Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen AUKs ...

[Invicta]

Splendid day out on the bike! The weather wasn't as bad as expected and for once we actually got the clothing selection right. Hands and feet got chilly at a couple points, but warmed up again nicely.
Thanks Paul, and all your helpers.

I DNS'd and find I struggle with near freezing weather, never mind wet as well. Would be interested to hear of Thing2's clothing selection. Or anyone else's!

Thanks, Martin

[mattc]

Personally I find keeping body warm is just about adding more layers.

But hands/feet are much trickier (partly as bulky gloves are such a nuisance on a velocipede). Solutions do exist.

How about you Martin?

[Invicta]

Thanks, mattc. Head, hands and legs are generally OK. Feet get cold, but I've recently started wearing Specialized Defrosters, which allow thicker socks. My feet don't get as cold as previously and have actually come back to lif on a couple of occasions. What I'm trying to resolve is having enough body layers to keep warm whilst still allowing the sweat to get away and not build up to level where I'm feeling chilled. I wear wicking base layers and a wind stopper type jacket, but wonder sometimes whether a regular jersey would be better. It's an age old problem and I expect everyone is different.

Martin

[Thing2]

Splendid day out on the bike! The weather wasn't as bad as expected and for once we actually got the clothing selection right. Hands and feet got chilly at a couple points, but warmed up again nicely.
Thanks Paul, and all your helpers.

I DNS'd and find I struggle with near freezing weather, never mind wet as well. Would be interested to hear of Thing2's clothing selection. Or anyone else's!

Thanks, Martin

I do have an advantage, in that I sit on the back of a tandem, which gives me a lot more shelter, especially my hands. The downside to that is I'm the one who gets to take gloves off if needed (e.g. extracting a puncture inducing flint). On the downside I get wetter feet, even with a full length mudguard on the front. I find that keeping arms and legs warm (including wrists and ankles), help keep the extremities warmer. Remembering to wiggle the fingers and toes helps too. Everyone is different, and what works for me isn't necessarily helpful to others.
From top to bottom I was wearing: helmet, earwarmers, buff, longsleeve Merino baselayer, shortsleeve cycle jersey, waterproof jacket, thick waterproof gloves (sealskinz), thin 3/4 lengths, longs (with windproof panels and water repellent treatment on the front), waterproof socks and toe warmers *and* thin waterproof overshoes over the shoes. I'm particularly pleased with the shoe coverings. My feet tend to sweat a lot, and if there's too much insulation they get cold from being too sweaty. I normally spend winter rides with numb feet from either being too cold or too wet). Using toe warmers added a bit of warmth, but not enough that they were overheating. The overshoes stopped them getting soaked from spray off the front wheel and gave my ankles a bit of windproof protection.

[thing1]

I wore more or less same layering as thing2 (I find it hard to make decisions first thing so just copy her lead  )
It worked equally well for me - neoprene toe covers and goretex shoe cover shell was excellent. I just had Marino rather than waterproof socks. Base layer was Marino which worked great
One struggle was cold hands after each stop. 20mins into each stage the handlebars were utterly freezing and painful to hold. Going onto the drops helped, I guess because there's less metal there (Vs oversized tops).
I also had sealskinz gloves but mine seem to just sponge up the water rather then repel it   

[whosatthewheel]

I also had sealskinz gloves but mine seem to just sponge up the water rather then repel it   

They are waterproof until water begins to enter from the wrist... it's almost inevitable, given your arms are pointing forward. The fabric of the gloves begins to suck water in. If you rode with vertical arms, then it would be sufficient to wear your jacket sleeves over the gloves.
Maybe an ordinary bike is the solution?

[tomj]

Err, I also had sealskinz gloves but mine seem to just sponge up the water rather then repel it.

[JennyB]

I also had sealskinz gloves but mine seem to just sponge up the water rather then repel it   

They are waterproof until water begins to enter from the wrist... it's almost inevitable, given your arms are pointing forward. The fabric of the gloves begins to suck water in. If you rode with vertical arms, then it would be sufficient to wear your jacket sleeves over the gloves.
Maybe an ordinary bike is the solution?

Or maybe something like these?

[mattc]

Thanks, mattc. Head, hands and legs are generally OK. Feet get cold, but I've recently started wearing Specialized Defrosters, which allow thicker socks. My feet don't get as cold as previously and have actually come back to lif on a couple of occasions. What I'm trying to resolve is having enough body layers to keep warm whilst still allowing the sweat to get away and not build up to level where I'm feeling chilled. I wear wicking base layers and a wind stopper type jacket, but wonder sometimes whether a regular jersey would be better. It's an age old problem and I expect everyone is different.

Martin

hmmmmmm ... no simple answer, as I don't suffer that way (now that I've learned the lesson that you need more clothing at 2'c/wet than in mere "normal" winter conditions      )

1stly; I'm not keen on "wicking" base layers. They *may* work, but I've been using merino base layers on every proper ride since about 2007. I think merino mid-layers (like the crazy cheap on-One "cardigan-style" top I wore yesterday) have a place too. But wool can get a bit saggy as a thick layer ... )

2ndly; I generally abhor full waterproof jackets until you absolutely have to wear them. They do not breathe. The better ones just reduce the problem but they do not breathe. The Bad News? This weekend's freezing rain is probably when you do need the bloody things! And I think "windproofs" are nearly as bad, sadly.

3rd: The fall-back option is carrying spare layers. Such as spare dry base layer. And extra in case you misjudge *how* cold it is (I often carry a padded gilet which you can wear under your outermost layer); and of course on a 200k, after 9 hours you are often colder than after 1 hour just thru fatigue. This stuff can quickly turn into quite a bulky-looking bag-o-stuff, but it really doesn't weigh much and can pay you back in triplicate.

4th; I'm a big believer in unzipping stuff. See a climb of more than a minute? Unzip a bit. (Gilets are in their element here). I know many riders stay sealed into their hermetic gore-tex for 12hours, but that's never worked for me.

Good luck ...

[Manotea]

Well, of around 150 entrants we had around 65 starters on the day and 60 finishers. There’s no doubt the rather grey, cold, damp n drizzly conditions made it a tough day to be out and it seems to me that everybody who made the start line is to be congratulated. Those who made the finish – and the DNFers who txt’d in – all seemed to be smiling or variations thereof, even if only because it was over. Still, banking a tough January ride is always a job well done for alas you have to get cold and wet every now and then to appreciate being warm and dry! My usual thanks go to helpers including Gary Hocking and Pat Hurt at Pangbourne and Hungerford, and Ian Oliver, Dave Morrison, Caroline and John at Chalfont. 

Next up for me as organiser is the Winter Boat Ride on the 11 February, which is a café Start/Pub Finish affair from Uxbridge out to Stoke Bruern nr Towcester. The terrain is similar to the Willy Warmer, a rolling 200km over mostly good roads, just right for a short winter’s day. Ref: http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/18-289/

If 200km still feels a long way at this time of year, the following Sunday is the Willesden C.C. Reliability Ride from Chalfont which will have 100km and 50km routes. Ref: http://www.willesdencyclingclub.co.uk/calendar/reliability-rides/

[Jem]

Thanks for an epic day out. Great to have real live controllers too. The "just get on with it" at Hungerford suited the conditions fine. This was not a ride for sympathy, more a ride for moving and survival.

Chelmer Chris and I drove to the start and into ever increasing rain. Still, it wasn't as bad the freezing ride of 2015 - and definitely not as bad as the other Willesden offering, the legendary Beast of the East 2007 although at times, it was a close call and we felt like the "desperadoes".

We started as two but after the half way point picked up a few other hardy souls - Asif, Boa (minus a back light -one provided from the several extra attached to my bike) and Malcolm who's routesheet had disintegrated in the rain. It turned out that while I didn't know Malcolm, I did know his uncle - none other than well known trikie Dave Stokes from trike racing and the Mersey Roads.

Well, it was a ride of surviving from control to control. Eat properly. Warm up. Go back out again. Freeze until you hit a climb. I've never been so grateful for the hill out of Pangbourne or the Lambourn drag. Descending was a different issue. With a rear brake cable not playing nicely, descents were either just full on go for it where it was a straight road and lose speed on the up without braking (I wanted to save them for emergency use as far as possible): on a windy descent, get on the drops and try to control speed so it never required any sudden force. Terrifying.

We opted for a mixture of the dry conditions route and the wet conditions route, choosing lanes over busier alternatives most of the time. This turned out to be fine except for the "road closed" section which we'd been warned about at the start. Having ridden audaxes on and off with Chris for about 16 years, I should know by now that there is no such thing as a closed road..... so we ended up riding through an almost foot deep flood. Nice. At this point I suffered a sense of humour failure as I discovered that waterproof sealskinz aren't and my feet almost instantly froze as water got in but couldn't get out. My decision to go with "waterproof" socks over merino is not a mistake I'll make again

The rest of the route to Winnersh was a muttering affair but after a hot drink and cake at the Sainsbury's, the rain having stopped and knowing it was just a 40km hop back to the finish, spirits rose again. In fact the last couple of hours were the most pleasant and warmest of the entire ride. Feet thawed out and we were warm and our little group of five stuck together. We'd got this far and there was no way we were leaving anyone behind now.

The last descent into Chalfont St Peter was a bit of a hair raiser on the temperamental brake but we made it with a whopping 45mins to spare. Apart from 2015, I've never been so happy to see the finish of this ride. The TLC, bacon sandwiches and coffee felt like the best in the world. Thanks Paul.

I've done many rides longer, hillier and theoretically harder than the WW but I still think that the weather makes this one of the hardest winter rides.
Testing rides though, and the people you share them with, are the ones you remember.
And we'll remember this one way past when the trench foot disappears.

Thanks to Paul and his team for another memorable ride.

Jane

[TigaSefi]

Nice write up there Jane. i bought some new brake pads on Friday and they utterly failed yesterday for the last 8 miles coming up to the Beaconsfield services and beyond. So strange! Off to find some harder wearing pads!!

Fake Edit: I have just inspected them and they are wore down way beyond the minimum line!!

[Ribena75]

Tentatively looking forward to this on Saturday to keep my maiden RRtY rolling... The route sent out is under distance though at 196.6 km? https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38359270