Rain, rain go away

The plan for my Wednesday-morning ride was to time the trip from my house to the TMR ride start. The question wasn't whether I could ride to the start (as all the other TMR riders do), it was more of - what time do I have to be out the door, which leads to the more important question of - what time does my alarm need to go off?

I was feeling pretty spry after a good run on the Tuesday edition of TMR ... I can already tell a difference in my riding just from the couple group rides I've done recently. Rolling out around 645a, the skies were still a little dark and the air felt heavy. It felt like rain but the roads were dry so off I went. I made the right turn from Bonnie Branch onto Montgomery lane and very shortly had ChildTime Daycare (TMR start) in my sights. Satisfied with the run and starting to do math in my head to answer the questions above, I made the turn around to go home. I felt a little drop of moisture on my arm. Figuring it was just sweat, I pressed on, wondering if I had time to go down Ilchester instead of the out-and-back.

I made the executive decision to get home the fastest way possible due to darkening skies so out and back was the route of choice. It started raining as soon as I made the turn. It wasn't a downpour but given my recent anti-falling motto, I wasn't thrilled. The run out was mostly uphill so the run back was mostly a fast downhill. In the rain. On fresh pavement. I don't know why, but fresh asphalt makes me nervous - I think it just LOOKS slick and I am admittedly gun-shy.

Anyway, by the time I got to the bottom of the hill it was a full-on downpour. As I high-tailed it through the park, I saw several walkers who got caught out. Two other women on cruiser-bikes rushing home. A daily park-walker who was prepared with an umbrella. Several mountain bikers standing under a bridge, waiting for the rain to pass.

I saw no reason to stop - my recently cleaned caad10 was already wet and dirty from road spray. My new headlight was flaking out b/c water was getting into the housing. I had squishy-puddles in my shoes and my kit probably looked like an inappropriate-for-young-eyes bodysuit. Everyone I passed looked at me like I was crazy but I had to get home to get to work. I quietly gave thanks to the boy - he put gator-skins on my wheels a few weeks ago. Changing a flat in this monsoon would have been a debacle.

... where did i leave my umbrella?

The minute I rolled into my neighborhood, the downpour turned into a drizzle. Sigh. I promptly sprayed off all the loose debris from my bike and then looked around for newspaper to stuff in my shoes. I had just taken out the recycling so I did the next best thing - opened them up and left them, face down, on the a/c vents. Up to the shower and off to work I went.

I'd have been more bitter if it wasn't so warm out. I'd have been less bitter if I hadn't just done a rockstar job of cleaning my still-new ride.

This morning the plan was ride to the start of TMR and branch off half-way through to get home and into work in time for an early meeting. My alarm went off at 515a. I looked out the window and saw wet roads and drizzle. I made the executive decision to reset the alarm and went back to sleep.

(in case you are wondering: 35mins to TMR start-point. this means out the door by 520a. this means up by 5a. heavy sigh)