Icy a chance to ride

With football called of on Saturday due to a frozen, snow covered pitch I took the chance, donned my thermals and got the bike out of the garage.
With new slick tyres on I knew it could get a bit dicey as it was still below 0 and there was still some ice around.
Nonetheless I ventured off and decided to keep it simple, straight along the A259 from Eastbourne to Hastings and back. A 35 mile round trip.The wind was light enough and I decided not to push it due to the conditions and being out of practice. Well just under 2 hours later and after only a couple of dodgy moments on unnoticed icy patches I was back home, and feeling good. A cup of tea later I thought I'd like to do that again, so I did!
Once again taking it easy, especially on the return leg as the evening approached, and the temperature fell further, but the bike and rider came through unscathed and feeling a lot better than expected, after a 70 mile ride on the second training run and the first real test of where I am fitness wise in preparation for the ride.
I now have a bench mark to work from.
I have to say how much of a difference having the thermal tights made from my first venture out a couple of weeks ago, I hardly felt the cold, apart from on my face, when i had my snood down for better breathing.
the only downside, if it could be called that is that I lost the little pastic stops off the edges of my cleats when I had to rapidly re-gain my balance after a couple of slips on icy patches, but that is merely a cosmetic problem.
If the weather starts to improve, as in the mercury going upwards and not plummeting downwards, I am going to start trying to get out for an evening ride or two during the week, along with a good long ride at the weekend.
Still a long way to go, but I feel more confident now of reaching the level needed for the ride in September.

More next week.