I love gravel grinders, I typically ride one per month April to October every year. This means there is a good chance you'll be riding/racing in the rain. With that has come lessons in what wet gravel can do to your skin (& gear).
Tomorrow I'm riding the
Royal (Almanzo's 164-mile course) - the forecast is for rain all day and temps in the mid-40s. So it'll be another chance to dial in my cold & wet gravel kit.
Things I learned from other long gravel rides in 40*F wet weather:
- Leg warmer's grippers combined with wet sand will leave marks on your upper-thighs that will take weeks to heal - now it's either old Ibex knickers or bibs with bare legs
- The back of my neck was rubbed raw from the wool skull cap getting coated with wet sand - by turning my heads, I was rubbing the back of my neck with sand paper
- Wool is the key to keeping warm
- Don't stop too long at check points (muscles will lock up)
- CamelBak is a great way to have a drink without getting a mouth full of grit
- Everything, EVERYTHING, everything you eat will be coated in sand
- Also the issue of "man parts" - you want tight enough base layer that nothing's moving around in your bibs (that was an awkward injury to recover from). For tomorrow's ride, I'll have a pair of tight Zoot tri shorts that will be under my Ibex knickers.
Anybody else have lessons learned and wanna share?
The pic below was the 2017 Almanzo (the Toad's on the drop-bar fatbike).
Photo credit - David Phillips / Spring Valley Tribune