Winter has many plus points as a time to ride. A hard frost like icing sugar scattered over fields and gates is beautiful once you’ve caught your freezing breath – and assuming that road surfaces aren’t also decorated perilously with the same frost. Sometimes we just need winter to remind us that the spring, and the summer, are a blessing. But like death and taxes there will be days that are either ‘wet and unpleasant’ or ‘cold and unpleasant’ (delete as applicable).
Whichever way you cut it, winter rides are a challenge. But some winter rides are more challenging than others, as ultra-cyclists Mark Beaumont and Chris Hall both know. Whether traversing the length of New Zealand against the clock on five hours
