Playing in the Rain

It has been a long time since I have spent so much time outside enjoying the rain! It started off with my first day to biking to work for my 3 week challenge of biking to work. It was pouring on my way to work, which was lots of fun. Then I started getting weather warnings and alerts in the afternoon. It looked like things would let up after 6, so I stuck around work a little later. But then there were warnings of a tornado moving up from the south and 30-50 mph winds. So I figured I should high tail it out and head home before that hit!

Wow was it ever fun to bike home in that rain! Started out pretty slow. Then I came around a turn and my rear end felt a little off. Did I have a flat? Nope didn't feel like a flat, but didn't feel quite right either. Pulled over and my tire was definitely low, but not all flat. Checked it out and it turned out I had a 1" nail embedded in my tire! As soon as I got my tire off the torrential rain hit. :-) Extra incentive to get my tire changed quickly and done right.

Got back on the road and heading home. The rain was coming down so hard at one point that I felt like I was going as fast as the cars because they could barely see. Truth be told I felt like I could barely see as well. Fortunately I had clear glasses on, but would have been better off with a pair off goggles! It was a lot of fun riding in the rain. I was a little concerned that I would have my tire swept out from under me when going through some of the really deep puddles, but all was good.

Then I got home and wanted to take full advantage of the rain, so went for a nice run! Got a little lost and ended up running about an extra mile. But when you are staying cool, getting covered by wonderful rain, getting to splash in the puddles, and feeling like a kid again, having to run an extra mile is of little concern!

So in conclusion for the ride:

• One flat tire
  
• Offered ride while at a stop sign by a friendly old chap
• Day one of the challenge done, all the others should be a piece of cake by comparison!
• One hell of a fun ride home!

Tips on riding in the rain:

• Have some good rain gear, this may not help you keep dry the whole time, but will help you get out the door and stay dry for more than you would have without it!
• If it's going to be raining really hard, glasses won't cut it, get some ski goggles or motorcycle goggles, or something along these lines. Who cares if you look a little funny ;-) Plus these will come in handy in the winter when it's cold and you are out on your bike.
• Make sure and have good waterproof lights. It may be daytime, but with reduced visibility and big puddles in the bike lanes, you want to make sure that cars can see you!
• Be extra cautious when braking. Even with great brakes (unless you have good disk brakes) they won't be as good as when dry. And sometimes will slip at first and catch as they dry which can lead to uneven braking, causing problems when you are on slick pavement! So bottom line be careful!
• Sometimes it's lots of fun going through big puddles, but unless you know the road well, you might find out there is a giant pot hole there...
• Smile as much as possible, helps ensure that you have a great time, and makes the people in cars think you are even more crazy (the goggles will help with this too) giving you extra room for safety.