Worst ride ever?!!

[Jamesh]

What's your worst ride ever?

I rode from bingley to Colne in the wind the from Colne over to hebden bridge and the most violent hale storm hit me. I had to walk up the hill out of Trawden due to lack of traction on 28mm tyres, and then twice more over the Moors as I lost grip in the way down and nearly hit the gravel and again on the climbs.

I got to HB and then pressed on back to bingley when the same storm decided to have another go on the climb over to oxenhope. I didn't have food nor a mask to buy some! So was feeling the bonk!
as had to get back for 1pm at the covid clinic my daughter was volunteering at. My feet were so frozen they didn't warm up until I got in the shower!

What's been your worst ride?!!

Cheers James

[Jdsk]

Definitely the early stages of EV15 S to N in 2019... entirely because of the heat.

Jonathan

[Audax67]

2007, 400k qualifier for PBP. Looked at local weather forecasts round the route and packed accordingly. From around 300k the route crossed the Jura at 1100 metres. That's when I realized that the 13°C I'd allowed for applied to a town 25 km away, down in a valley. Temperature at start of climb was 4°C, dropping soon to 1°C. With every stitch of clothing on and newspaper shoved inside jersey chum & I were still shuddering with the cold. Towards 5 am, on a long downhill, we ran into freezing fog. In La Chaux-de-Fonds we headed straight for the railway station and ate peanuts out of a machine until the cafeteria opened at 7 am.

I don't think I've ever been colder.

[thirdcrank]

This is the relevant bit from one of my old posts, in reply to a query about Gamex jackets.

Although I'm a satisfied Gamex user, I don't think it has much to commend it as protection against the weather. IME, it's a bit windproof but useless as rainwear. One of my most miserable days cycling ever was caused by a naive belief that a Gamex jacket would help keep me dry, even when I could feel that I was soaked to the skin and frozen to the marrow, on a wet day in Summer.

I'd bought the jacket on impulse when I'd seen it in a favourite bike shop. The wrapper suggested it was rainwear and I remember when I queried its effectiveness the answer was "100%" Anyway, I had a day off and decided to go for a ride with no route planned. It began to rain soon after I had set off so, it was vesti la Gamex and I steadily got more soaked. I could have turned for home but I was determined to get some miles in and I pressed on getting more and more miserable. The unpleasant memory is still so vivid that I can remember it was at the time when my Bob Jackson was dark green, which dates it to the 1980's. On the way home I stopped for a while in a rural bus shelter at Scholes (the East Leeds one) and ate my sandwiches which were cheese and chutney (yuk) I don't think I've ever felt lower through cycling.

[Mick F]

Worst ride for me, and I'll never forget it.

I rode LE to JOG and back to LE in July 2006.
Off I went, happy as Larry to LE to JOG, turned round and headed south.
The heatwave that'd started in the south finally made it to the north, and I faced into it on the second day after leaving Helmsdale.
Rode from there to Inverness and it was purgatory and I had to hide under trees in the shade to try to cool off.
Inverness to Pitlochry wasn't as bad, but Pitlochry to Edinburgh was awful.

Edinburgh to Carlisle was the worst by far. Only a short ride of 50odd miles, but I was tired, baked with the heat, and then as I reached the northern outskirts of Carlisle, I took a wrong turn, went town a hill and basically collapsed under a tree by the side of the road.
I fished out a Boost Bar (remember them?) from my saddle bag and it was molten from the heat, so squeezed it into my mouth and sort of came to my senses - thank goodness!

Back up the hill, found a chippy, and had a good bit of a nosh!

Felt ok then, but I had to add another day to my ride south to recuperate rather than doing the next few 100mile days back-to-back.

[rjb]

An autumn 100k audax from Minehead across exmoor to Combe Martin and back during an easterly gale with temps close to zero. First half of the ride was bliss with a tailwind so little effort involved. Return was a nightmare and like others i had every stitch of clothing on plus newspapers stuffed up my top retrieved from bins enroute. I was so cold that some of the descents were very sketchy as i couldnt stop shivering nor my teeth from chattering. On one descent i had to stop and lift my bike by the bars to turn it in the right direction so i could negotiate a tight bend
and to cap it all i had a 25 mile ride home after the audax, still against the wind but nearer sea level so it wasnt quite as cold.

[Paulatic]

I’m torn between two rides both 400k Audax.
One was 23 hours of solid rain but I think that is pipped by over 120 ml into a gale. 6 mph was at times a good speed on the flat At the turn it was then dark and of course the wind dropped so no tail wind home.

[pq]

I rode from Birmingham to Portishead (just past Bristol) in December on a fixed into a howling headwind and rain. Obviously a big chunk of it was done in the dark and I didn't just ride down the A38. That wasn't especially great.

I remember a quite unpleasant day in Kyrgyzstan in 2010. It was around 44 degrees, I was on a narrow busy road with lots of incompetent drivers and lots of steep hills. I kept running out of water and there was no shade and very little in the way of food. With hindsight I should have taken a bus - it was just a ride of several days getting from the airport to the mountains.

Riding in Pakistan and Tibet with altitude sickness was a bit of a trial too.

[Mick F]

Riding in Pakistan and Tibet with altitude sickness was a bit of a trial too.

That sounds like an understatement.

[KTHSullivan]

100 miles into the wind from Oxford to Cambridge, after having ridden 100 miles with the wind in the opposite direction earlier in the day.

[Marcus Aurelius]

I did a ride a couple of years ago, where I got flattened by a car, when I was 80 miles away from base. I did find a very helpful LBS who sold me a new rear wheel and swapped out the cassette for me, but I ended up riding the 80 miles home with a very sore shoulder, a broken lid, and possible ( probable ) mild concussion. To top it off, I ran out of food, it got dark before I made it back, and my rear light had evidently died because of the crash. It was not a good ride.

[thirdcrank]

I've remembered another when going over some traffic calming broke a rail on my cherished Brooks Professional. It was only on the far side of Wakefield so the ride home was perhaps a dozen miles, but that's quite a distance when you can't sit down properly, combined with the demise of an old "friend."

[CliveyT]

Cambridge to York one spring. Not a very strong head wind, but a head wind nonetheless, cold but certainly not freezing, grey drizzling and across the fens. Miles of absolutely nothing to see except cabbages, the gps was a featureless straight line.
I can remember spotting a leylandii hedge around a house from a couple of miles away and just staring at it fixedly as I rolled towards it.

[peetee]

Riding home from work on a warm spring day in a shirt and tie and getting caught-out by a sudden drop in temperature followed by rain that soaked me to the skin and a sleet shower that made my eyelids feel like a paper cup full of Slush Puppy was very unpleasant and probably the coldest I have ever felt. However, the worst was probably the one that started with me trying desperately to follow my mates on a night ride with pitiful Wonder Lights and ended with me riding home the last 1/2 mile with severe concussion and a blood clot on the brain.

[Jamesh]

An autumn 100k audax from Minehead across exmoor to Combe Martin and back during an easterly gale with temps close to zero. First half of the ride was bliss with a tailwind so little effort involved. Return was a nightmare and like others i had every stitch of clothing on plus newspapers stuffed up my top retrieved from bins enroute. I was so cold that some of the descents were very sketchy as i couldnt stop shivering nor my teeth from chattering. On one descent i had to stop and lift my bike by the bars to turn it in the right direction so i could negotiate a tight bend
and to cap it all i had a 25 mile ride home after the audax, still against the wind but nearer sea level so it wasnt quite as cold.

I followed an audax / sportive over Exmoor one summer in the pouring rain and was so glad to be in the car!!

Cheers James