In addition to the rain, there was also a lot of wind on my Friday run with James...most of it in our faces, and a fair volume venting from his arse! Containing gases has been a project of mine recently, but I think I've cracked it. Going tubeless on my 29er has been a mission, with one tyre...and a sense of vulnerability with every ride. But a fresh dose of slime and a relaxed attitude to getting wet shins and watching the rims bubble...they've finally sealed and all is good. Which is just as well, as I went on ride up Snowdon with Mike yesterday.
'Mostly ride-able' the guides said, which directly equated to us being 'mostly disappointed' at the amount we had to walk. We're we really that shit, or can people actually ride up some of this terrain? I suspect no to both, but still...there were moments when we came across a briefly ride-able section, but thought it ruined what was turning out to be a nice walk...with our bikes. A couple of runners jogged by on their way up, and then again shortly after on their way back down. We took it well...yeah, whatev's.
I find it hard to summarise the day. It had a fair dose of everything. The changing light was just incredible. We left home by 5.00 and were at Llanberis for 7.00. There's was snow up near the top, but the sense that light was about to break through. For an age there was no scenery, just a back lit cloud providing a kind of phosphorescent glow to everything...like being on Mars...maybe! Without turning all gushy about it, I did have to keep saying to Mike how amazing it looked...repeatedly. On the way down, it just got better and better.
Finally we came out of the cloud and were able to do some proper riding down the gentler paths on the Rangers trail. As a ride, it wasn't so great, but I must say it was a box to tick off, and with 1500m of recorded ascent, it was a fair effort whether on foot or in the saddle. Early was good too, though we missed the clear skies of the summit later, we also missed the crowds, who were marching their way up as we turned off to the quieter trails on our way down. Some of them didn't really look prepared for the cold and snow!
Today, I regret I did get a puncture. A run I've not done in a while, out down by R2 at the back end of the airport, I wore my fell shoes in anticipation of mud and wetness. I got it in abundance, but so too an odd feeling of asymmetry in my feet. One wet, the other dry. It seems one of my Sealskinz has 'let go' and I quite definitely got a wet foot. I've come to realise that wetness isn't the issue. But it's the ingrained dirt and the rigmarole of digging out my feet and nails that is the chore. It's a minor issue, but clean dry feet after a wet run, is a joy!
