Cycling War Stories: Charlie Blue Toes

In this entry in the Luke's Cycling War Stories Series. We go back to the good old days of January 2015... the day when Charles's Toes Went Blue in an Oughterard Hail Storm.

It was January 31st 2015, my friend Charles and I went to do a 100km spin out of Galway, Ireland. We were training for a trip with Cycle Sierra Neavada.

We were still kinda Freds (a bad case of Fred-itis) at this stage. The spin entailed going west along the Wild Atlantic Way to Rossaveal then north to Maam Cross and Oughterard via a climb, and back south to Galway city.

We had a block headwind on the way out. We were Fredding it up with parachute-esque Yellow Aldi Jackets. Double Training tho.

After we made the turn north, Charles decided to tell me that he was trying out a Fat Burning ride and didn't bring any food with him. I had only brought four of those horrible Wiggle Chocolate bars. I started to fear for him bonking in the middle of Sheep Country. Midway up the climb, it started to Hail Stone hard. Our cheeks were getting pelted, a little blood. We spotted a little bridge wall, maybe four feet high. We hid behind it to weather the storm. We shared a Wiggle Chocolate Bar.

After the Hail Shower, we shivered onwards. We were wearing Aldi Legwarmers. My toes were numb, as I was only wearing Penny's(Primark) Socks. Charles was sporting Ankle Socks and his ankles were exposed. He won the award for Sexiest Blue Ankles in the Sheep Magazine :D

For some reason, the Fred-itis kicking in probably, we didn't stop for coffee in Oughterard. Charles bonked half way between Oughterard and Moycullen. Luckily it was mostly an slight down hill with a slight tailwind. Galway City must've been hard for Charles, as he had bonked and it's a stressful city to navigate on a bike. When he took off his shoes his toes were blue. We're still alive to this day, and have all our original toes. No Lab grown toes for us.

I have two more war stories, about the Orwell Randonnée, both involving Yellow Jackets and Charles.

Links

• Strava: Strava 15 Minute Training Plan 4.6: Endurance Miles: Training with Charlie Blue Toes.
• Original Story from a Competition on Ollie Weekly #22 Tommy Simpson Ride.