A gravel event in Alberta in mid-April? That’s a bold--and
optimistic--proposition, but, hey, it worked. Last Saturday’s Strawberry Jam
out Telfordville way, organized by gravel impresario Tim Bulger, was a hit. The
weather was perfect, the roads in splendid early season shape, the traffic
light, the dogs friendly, and the riders tickled to be out and at it
pre-Easter.
WET WEATHER RIDING
Sensible cyclists ride when it is not raining with nothing on their heads; there are very few days in our climate when direct sun-rays are hot enough to be injurious to even the hairless cyclist. (I have a bald-headed cycling relative whose scalp is like mahogany.) Many are also content to ride bare-headed in rain, and I do not blame them, though it involves fastening the cape rather tightly about the neck. But many of us who have to wear glasses like to keep the rain off them. I never had a great opinion of the cap, even in the long-ago days when it was sensibly made. But the modern cap is an atrocity. I do not want a Yorkshire tea-cake projecting over each ear and another in front of the peak. So I have bought no cap for many years and have divided my vote between those soft tweed hats (now lighter than caps) which can be worn any shape or no shape, and Barbours' "Haydon" oilskin hat, which goes in to my touring kit in view of possible all-day rain. It weighs 4 ozs. only; 6s. 6d.
Sooner or later it will happen that you finish a day's ride on tour with sodden shoes, which are still wet in the morning. There is not the slightest need to be afraid of them. Don't put them on again until just before leaving, but if the feet continue to feel cold, walk sharply up the first hill.
