Absolutely not related to bikepacking, other than that I know a few of us like being on or in water as well as riding bikes; that, same as us, getting cold and wet in wild places makes Cath feel happy and reasonably sane; that she did dabble with cycling and triahlons for a bit before discovering she's good at cold water swimming, which is where I first met her: BBC 1 tomorrow evening at ,7.30, the Merthyr Mermaid, highly recommend you watch it. Cath is an altogether good egg, as well as totally bonkers, in the nicest possible way.

Cool. I'll hopefully catch that!

I've been doing some open water swimming this year. Currently trying to acclimatise to the colder water.

These photos are from last Wednesday at Loch Morlich.

Calm on arrival, sun yet to pop up over the hills.





You can see that we take it seriously





The walk of pain




Yeah - that's ice on the waters edge.

I love the walk of pain picture!

I saw that on FB last night - quite mad and fantastic.

Looks like Loch Morlich. If it is, I was in there last week. It was my coldest swim ever. I think it was 5°C.
I measure it with my appendage shrinkage. Morlich gave me a camel toe!
Luckily the other lochs in the area are a bit warmer 8-10°C.

Thinking about getting a swim wetsuit, but they are not cheap.

Verena wrote: ↑Sun Dec 13, 2020 11:56 pm Absolutely not related to bikepacking

It is
I plan my routes to get in as many swims as I can. I nearly always take my trunks on a ride. Just in case the rain and mud don't get me wet and cold enough.

Rasta wrote: ↑Mon Dec 14, 2020 12:55 pm

Verena wrote: ↑Sun Dec 13, 2020 11:56 pm Absolutely not related to bikepacking

It is
I plan my routes to get in as many swims as I can. I nearly always take my trunks on a ride. Just in case the rain and mud don't get me wet and cold enough.

Impressed! I like the idea of that more than the reality.... did go for a dip straight from a bivvy recently, but normally while I ride taking my clothes off and getting into cold water is about the last thing I feel like...seems like a lot of hassle.... and it must be a temperature thing...

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Mon Dec 14, 2020 10:37 am I saw that on FB last night - quite mad and fantastic.

She is :)

Rasta wrote: ↑Mon Dec 14, 2020 12:44 pm Looks like Loch Morlich. If it is, I was in there last week. It was my coldest swim ever. I think it was 5°C.
I measure it with my appendage shrinkage. Morlich gave me a camel toe!
Luckily the other lochs in the area are a bit warmer 8-10°C.

Thinking about getting a swim wetsuit, but they are not cheap.

Ducky says 3C.

I'm using bouyancy shorts and a zipped neoprene vest. Makes for quick removal which is handy when you're desperate to get dry. Most of the locals avoid wetsuits at this time of year for that reason. Of course, it does limit the amount of time you can spend in the water.

Don’t know why but as i got older into my 40’s, that pain amplified hugely, especially in feet and legs
I never used to suffer that much, regularly swimming in rivers and surfing in cold sea (albeit with wetsuit) but in the last few years it’s really putting me off

Ah. Only available on BBC Wales. I'll get it on iPlayer later.

I've got into it this year having done a fair few sea swims and some freshwater stuff. Problem is that I'm way too thin for it.

What are you trying to say?

I'm still sea swimming in Shetland, in my speedos, but it was bloody nippy this weekend and only did 15min max each day.

Not sure I could hack it while camping or biking at this time of the year as it took me a good while to fully rewarm on Saturday and Sunday.

Will look out for it on iplayer

Are you in the sea up there?

I think that warming up afterwards is the secret to enjoying a cold water swim. At least for me.
Lots of 'talk' about getting into a warm car being the slowest way. ie warming from the outside to in. Exercise and a pot noodle being the quickest.

Running hill sprints are my favourite, but not always available.

Maybe heading to Glen Affric next week for a ride/hammock/swim.

Yeh in the sea, the lochs are too yucky and peaty generally. I love seeing the wildlife in the sea as its generally so clear.

After drop can get amusing when you're shaking enough that getting hot chocolate in your mouth is a challenge
I tend to just sit in the car with a warm flask of hot choc or coffee and rewarm slowly until I'm sure I'm OK to drive.

Warm from the outside and warm drinks, not hot is best. Too much physical exercise to warm up is said to be bad once you're that cold as it quickens the flushing of cold blood from the peripheries to the core and can worsen after drop.

I ran home from a swim 3-4 weeks ago. It wasn't good. For a start, my toes were so cold I couldn't really feel my feet hitting the ground and my technique was awful. Then I just felt generally ill for a while. I'll not be trying that again until the summer.

Great program! Cath is indeed brilliant.

On catch up on Sky now. That was great, not feeling the need for a chest freezer though

Aye - just watched it on iPlayer. What a star!

Again, not convinced that we need a new chest freezer.

Had a 16min dip in the budgie smugglers today as an early solstice dip. Coast to coast at Mavis Grind, north sea one side, Atlantic the other...
https://youtu.be/wulmeFW8GJI

Bike's been locked to the turbo lately

Tuesday lunchtimes swim was bloody cold, I came home and got some wetsuit gloves from Amazon!

Definitely not up to the mile standard yet!

https://youtu.be/HAu1Ft2MZJM

excellent
Not sure the temp for our swim today in the atlantic up here (6.6c the other day), but at least we didn't need and ice axe

More today.

Not much swimming going on as it was taking too long to clear a channel.

We now have cut shins, knees and thighs as a result of pushing back back out through floating ice.

https://youtu.be/EU69lblkKHU