…are the days you don’t expect. Tuesday was one of those. I had the bike and my gear prepped from the night before and a route in mind. I had a morning window to get out but it was cloudy, windier and way colder than expected. I was severely unmotivated to go out in 5°C with wind chill taking that down by at least 4°.

Eventually just after 10am the sun came out and it was a case of “fuck it, this is too good to waste!”. Clothes on, a change of route and off I went.

Clothing was crucial, skull cap, buff, double layered gloves, mesh base, long sleeve thermal base layer*, Perfetto, Club gillet, bib shorts, thermal bib tights, thick looped socks, winter shoes, Endura overshoes. It takes a lot of time to get all this on but on this run it was worth it and I never felt the cold at all.

I headed down the Finn Valley to Clady making hard work of the SE headwind to climb up over Gleneely, dropping down to Victoria Bridge. Turning for Strabane I now had a tailwind and some kind of assistance all the way home.

Views from the top of Gleneely were great, looking down over Sion Mills with Knockavoe looming above. Further West were clear views of the Sperrins.

Dropping into Victoria Bridge I couldn’t resist stopping to enjoy one of the nicest bridges in the local area and probably the best river views.

Coming close to home I was feeling great. Plenty of energy in the legs and perfectly dressed for the weather. Time was against me though as we had family plans for the afternoon and I needed food and a shower before heading out. Back home only 10min and there was a prolonged and heavy, wintry shower that would have ruined the whole ride. Settling for just under 47km now brought a smile to my face 😊

*the thermal base layer is a long sleeved ski base layer from Lidl of all places. I hope to review this properly in the next couple of weeks.