Singing in the rain

Yesterday was quite a ride. After a few days of good weather that I could not ride in, I woke up Monday morning to a overcast sky and a real good chance of rain. I figured if the guys were game, I was up to it. I didn't think that we would do our planned route, but any ride would be welcomed.

We showed up at 6:30 am and the weather was holding. A loop was decided with the back up plan of if it looked like it was going to get bad we would turn around. We thought that we could make it to the outer part of the loop before the rain hit. Well it started out good. The roads were wet in spots like it just rained there, but we were not getting rained on.

We made it to the turning point and up to that moment we had not been rained on yet. It sure looked like it was going to, but so far it had not. One gentleman at the gas station heard us talking about the rain. He asked us what way we were going and after we pointed, he said 2 miles up the road it was pouring. Good thing that we were not going that way today. That section was in the original plan. So be started heading back in the direction of home with almost 40 miles in with out getting rained on. We headed up the next section of road with some concerned looks on our faces, but at that point it really didn't matter any more. We figured 40 miles in the morning were much better for us than the couch.

Next we were faced with the option of what direction to head home. One direction was a little shorter, but had a lot more hills. It was decided to take the highway back and skip those bad hills on the back road as up till now we were making some real good time even with a head wind. Not 2 miles past the turn off for the back way, we were finally rained on for the first time of the day. It didn't really last too long so overall it was not too unpleasant. Little did we know that was just the start of it. The closer we got to the next little town it started to rain more. From there on home we were rained on for most of the way. Most of the time it was not too bad, just a steady rain. There were only a few sections that it rained a little hard on us.

As we were getting closer, one rider started asking about calling for a ride home. I said at this point, I am soaking wet and we are no more then 10 miles from home. I was planning on riding it out. So, I guess he didn't want to be the only one not riding home so we all continued on. Overall it was a great ride. I wish it was not as wet as it was, but it was a good hard ride. It was easily the most rain that I have ever rode in. I just hope I didn't mess any of my bearings up.

After sizing everything up, we ended up with 75 miles and averaged right at 18.5 mph