Crazy Weather

The front of the Giro Ride regrouping after the turnaround on Saturday.

The crazy weather continues to interfere with my normally comfortable routine. I know I shouldn't be complaining. It's not like I'm in Minneapolis or something where by now I'd probably be riding a pretend bike in a pretend race on a pretend course with other pretend riders while dripping sweat in a basement or garage or something. Looking back, I did at least get out on the road five days last week, which under the circumstances wasn't all that bad I guess.

After being rained out Friday morning I was glad to see a break in the rain Saturday morning that would easily accommodate the Giro. Things had warmed up a bit into the 40s, and a decent enough group was on hand, so I was a little surprised that the pace rarely got out of the "moderate" range. I suppose the rather brisk east wind had something to do with that. On the way home I took a little detour and rode a lap around Audubon Park to log a couple of extra miles since the forecast for Sunday was for more rain.

Wheel spray in the headlight on Sunday

Indeed, when I awoke and looked out the window Sunday morning the streets were wet. Checking the radar, though, it looked like, maybe, if I was lucky, and if I was back home before 8 am, I might possibly be able to get in a couple of hours on the levee. So I rushed out the door at 6 am, figuring that the Giro wouldn't be happening anyway, and headed for the levee. Despite the relatively balmy 65 degree temperature I was wearing a wind-resistant base layer and arm-warmers because I knew there was no chance in hell I'd actually get back home dry. The levee bike path was wet, of course, and I rolled along upriver for a while with a nice southeast tailwind while watching the spray from my front wheel as it caught the beam from the headlight. The sky was nothing but grey clouds and every now and then a light rain would fall. If the temperature hadn't been in the 60s, I would have turned back right away, but as it was, I decided to go at least to the parish line. That would get me around 25 miles, which was about as much as I could hope for. By the time I got out to the far end of the ride there was a steady light rain falling and my feet were starting to get cold, but it wasn't too bad. I'd taken the old Orbea for this ride since I knew it would end up full of grit and dirt and water, which it did. The rain stopped for most of the ride back, but returned a bit for the last couple of miles. The rest of the day it rained. Heavily. Although I ended up wet and chilled and dirty, I'd at least gotten in an hour and a half during what turned out to have been the best part of the day.

More of the same.....

This morning it was raining again. I went downstairs and found that both tires on the rain bike were flat. I went back upstairs, got under the covers, and decided it was a sign and I should stay out of the rain today. As it turned out, the rain stopped an hour or so later and I ended up riding the bike to work. The forecast for the rest of the week looks a little sketchy, especially for the end of December. On the one hand, it won't be very cold at all. On the other, there's a chance of morning rain on Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday looks like a potential wash-out. More of the same. As much as I hate riding in the cold, I'd take that easily over riding in the rain every day.