The Dirty Reiver - anybody done it? Jacket choice..

The crossing was at around 70km on last year's route, dunno if it's any different this year.

Don't get your feet and shoes wet is my advice. And forget the drop bag thing, I'm not sure it worked well last year, just take what you need in a small rucksack.

This is of interest to me actually. Especially the bit about the river crossing. I was definitely thinking spare socks.... Is the crossing before or after the 100k mark, as obvs you could put socks in the drop bag too. Wet ones and clean ones.

I wore an Altura Nevis jacket that I spotted on sale on the way up. Just that and a baselayer was fine for the variety of conditions.(I had multiple layers at the start but most got stripped before the start of the timed section) I also had waterproof socks from a company well known for it's waterproof socks and whilst this didn't totally shield me from the river it kept things comfortable for the remainder of the ride. 

For the river crossing a sensible approach is to take shoes and socks off then paddle through (ouch ouch ouch) barefoot. It's fairly deep and with another 120km to go you don't want wet feet.

I did it last year and we had every type of weather going - snow, sleet, rain, hail, sunshine...

No-one did any sort of kit check. I supect there'd have been a riot had someone sat there at the start in sub-zero temperatures asking to see waterproof jackets!

I can't even remember what I wore - might have been my Endura softshell. You do need to take every piece of kit you own though and just make a call on the day, it can be VERY cold out there but over the course of 200km, you are likely to get a range of weather. There is a river crossing too - you might want a change of socks that you can put on once you've crossed...

Given where the Dirty Reiver is held, a showerproof jacket will often be shredded by the wind... Even if it holds together, driving horizontal rain will swiftly pass through it like it's not there. Exposure & hypothermia are not fun. They make items compulsory for your benefit, not theirs.

It states you need a jacket with welded or taped seams... you may have to borrow one if you aren't going to purchase one. You can get a fully seame sealed/waterproof jacket for £20 from Decathlon.