Standing up1I like the phrase prairie dogging, but how many of you are going to assume the wrong definition? in my cube mid-afternoon, I glanced out the windows. What?! Rain? Oops!
I had gone home during lunch to take the car to Suzi and work from home. Checking the weather report and seeing no rain predicted for a couple of days, I figured I’d try out my new rear fender, front and rear lights, nice rack, and pannier — and rode my bike back to work.2Of course, I bragged about it on Twitter.
Checking the weather report again, I saw that the rain was predicted to stop by 4 or so, and it did. Nice!
Shortly after 5, I packed my pannier, unlocked my bike, turned on my lights, and headed home. And got rained on. A lot. Almost the whole way.
So I slowed down, watched out for slick wet paint and metal grates and imagined myself being invisible to the cage drivers.
Now that I’m home and done eating, the rain has stopped, the clouds are pretty3See picture above. and the roads are drying.
And I’m still smiling. Riding in the rain was fun.
- 1I like the phrase prairie dogging, but how many of you are going to assume the wrong definition?
- 2Of course, I bragged about it on Twitter.
- 3See picture above.
Comments
6 responses to “Riding Under the Influence of Rain”
Yeah, I haven’t done that since junior high. I almost can’t remember when I last rode a bike but it must be more than 25 years. (I’m only 28 so I must have had training wheels then.)
Junior high bicycling. Ah, yes. I had a root beer Schwinn Continental 10-speed with a rack and a freon horn. That was a few bikes ago.
You should try it again. It’s one of my favorite ways to bring a smile to my face. :-)
I always find that once I give in to being wet, doing almost anything in the rain is pretty fun. I’ve done a lot of yardwork over the years in the rain… coming in and warming up is just SO satisfying. Glad you had a good ride!
Sher, that’s so true. As long as I’m warm, wet is no big deal.
I must point out, I got soaked on my ride home. Showing up to work looking like a drowned rat would not be fun.
Oh, THAT. The whole soaked-professional thing… yeah, I get that. So maybe arrange it so that it never rains while you ride TO work, but it’s acceptable on the way home. You can do that, can’t you? It is Portland, after all… ;)
Ha! You mock me (and my weather), but it’s a lot easier to predict the weather for the next 15 minutes than for 9 hours later. I can choose to bike to work based on the 15 minute prediction and gamble whether I’ll get soaked on the return trip. ;-)