Miserable Rain the Third spake thus unto the assembly, “Verily I say unto you, let Headwind the Terrible lay down and rest, and I, Miserable Rain the Third, will take up the hammer and smite the sprit of the cyclist in one savage blow”. And Bad Tar, the bastard child of Headwind the Terrible and Uphill from Eight Percent, said “Nay, let this be a day of longsuffering through insidious application of your cunning ways”. And then too did CreakyBB the Benevolent suggest that Miserable Rain delay his smiting and allow the cyclists set out with inadequate gear. And so it was agreed and the so it was done.

After several hours of supplication at the alter of suffering we splashed into Caledon to check we had brought all our fingers and toes with us. It was a chilly 10 degrees with rain falling steadily for two and a half hours or so. Not the worst experience I’ve ever had but up there with the rides filed under “Not much fun”. Adrian seemed to have it a little worse and opted for a high fashion statement with the latest in wet weather gear. Grabbing a bin bag and a few shopping bags he dressed for for the battle, inadvertently creating a new trend in cycling fashion. Soon to be at a Rapha store near you!

Adrian dressing in bin bags

Along the way, before the cold set in we came across a distant cycling cousin. Ian was taking three months out of regular life and was on the way to Uganda. Yes really. We stopped briefly to chat to him. Not a nutter.

From Caledon we headed through to our overnight stop in Greyton. Along the way the sky brightened and the road fell away before us. The cycling gods were smiling on us. At least we thought so – until we realized that tomorrow we have to retrace our path back uphill for 20km.

Henry, a fellow supplicant has a delightful cottage in Greyton and invited us to join him for pre dinner drinks. It took about a bottle of primo vino for me to understand the scoring system of the Ryder Cup. It has a lot of half points and ups and downs. A bit like cycling really!

Henry’s Cup ran over

Min overnight temp is just two degrees Celsius and rain is predicted again tomorrow. We shall prostrate ourselves at the alter of the great god of Wattage and press on. Regardless. So long as we we have our bin liner rain gear well be fine. Gulp.

Adrian’s little black number.