Rain, rain and more snow

Woke up this morning and turned the telly on just to see a picture that reminded me of why this race is a bad idea! The whole country covered in rain clouds. My attention was drawn those parts of the country where I will be pedalling in a few days - delightful! The words "Heavy rain" and "Very cold" were liberally scattered across the route with a good measure of snow to make it all the more exciting! Charming!
Cold is something you can deal with but any form of precipitation sucks! Rain/snow = Mud = Premature bike failure = much gnashing of teeth and frustration and the possibly an early ticket home.
I can just imagine the weather man or lady marking up the map with the words "Heavy rain" and "Very cold" then getting all wobbly with excitement over the marvellous cut-off low developing over the interior. Never mind the poor sods on bicycles that are desperately trying to make the next support station to thaw out and attempt to regain some composure before trudging out the door to do it all again while the weather mans settles down in front of his fireplace with a steaming cup of Milo excitedly watching the 'perfect storm' unfold on the telly.