'The Rules', and Their Recent Application

Thanks Jo Allen for the Photo.

I really like the course at Todmorden.  It is great fun with it's famous cobbled climb and generally testing terrain.

However, when the morning of the race dawned, a race that is not only the climax of the Yorkshire Points Series, but also one, if not THE, highlight of my season, I peeped out of the curtains to be greeted with cold, wind and rain!

Now, coping almost daily with harsh outdoor working weather conditions, I have developed a morbid obsession with the weather over the years.  As this obsession has grown, so has the 'fair weather cyclist' in me and, sometimes, I just can't face another drowning! Don't get me wrong - I like mud plugging - it's just the rain falling on my head that I find a little tiresome these days.  Perhaps I'm in the wrong game?

On this occasion, the morning of Tod'cross, the temptation to sneak the curtains back, and slip back into bed was incredibly great...

Then, my mind wondered to to 'The Rules'.  Firstly:

Rule #9

// If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.

Fair-weather riding is a luxury reserved for Sunday afternoons and wide boulevards. Those who ride in foul weather – be it cold, wet, or inordinately hot – are members of a special club of riders who, on the morning of a big ride, pull back the curtain to check the weather and, upon seeing rain falling from the skies, allow a wry smile to spread across their face. This is a rider who loves the work.

And most importantly:

Rule #5

// 

Harden The Fuck Up.

So I got my act together, tried to be a hard man, loaded up, and got off.  I softened the blow of the foul weather some what with a Bradford Curry Breakfast on route... not perhaps wise, and that is going to have to go down on the 'Things I learned Today list' - ie don't have a curry before a race!

Todmorden was wet, muddy and cold... but, rather strangely perhaps, very enjoyable!  The luxury of a fair-weather ride is going to have to wait.