In the Clouds

Left the house this morning for the early training ride and was greeted by a light drizzle. Drat! I knew I should have watched the weather last night instead of doing a few updates for The Brother on his daughter's Crew website. It was way too dark to be able to look up at the sky and see how bad it looked, so I went ahead and rode out to the levee. Turnout was a bit low this morning, of course. The streets were a bit wet, but it was more like we were in the middle of a raincloud all morning rather than under one, and although we rode for about an hour and a half in a misty light drizzle, it never got bad enough to soak through my socks. You never feel like you're really wet until that moment when the cold water finally gets through your shoes and socks and you feel it hit your feet. Once that happens, it's usually all downhill.

It seemed that Donald was determined to do the whole "long" ride this morning, but I think he was the only one. From the start, there was a motion on the floor to turn around at the Destrahan chemical plant, and as we approached that point the rain got briefly heavier as if to remind us. Indeed, everyone turned around there and we headed back, pushed along at 25-26 mph by a light tailwind. Of course the first of the inevitable flat tires came just after the turnaround. There's something about riding on wet streets that increases the chances of a flat tire by about 300%. So we waited up, circling around until it was fixed. About a mile later, I could hear the guys at the back yelling something again, and I knew it was another flat. This time, though, Donald just kept on rolling and we never saw him again. The rest of us stopped again, and by the time we started back up I was getting rather cold because I was basically all wet. Luckily, the temperature was around 70F, so it never got too bad - just enough to be uncomfortable.

It's noon now and as I look out of my office window it looks foggy and hazy. Heavier rain is expected soon as a cold front comes through this evening, and we're promised morning temperatures in the mid-50s for tomorrow.

Looks like tomorrow will be the first arm-warmer day.