Friday's kind of like a weekend, right?

I did 34 miles today. Started out with the intention of doing 30: 26 going south and back, and then another 4 going north and back. I got through maybe 6-7 miles going south when it started raining. (I guess the "scattered showers" were all scattered around the bike trail. ) I have never ridden in the rain before. I thought about turning back, then decided to finish my ride at a park (would have given me 23-24 miles) so I could wait out the rain under their picnic shelter. I got soaked on my way there. Wet jersey, wet shorts, wet socks, wet shoes. Yuck. (I'm glad I wore the mostly-black jersey today...)
Once it stopped raining (I spent 5 minutes under the shelter rearranging my bag so I could fit my phone in it) I decided to make it a 26-mile round trip and did the remaining mile or so going south*. I rode part of the way back with a group of people who were on a self-supported tour to California...from Akron. Wow. I took a little break once I got back to the parking lot...where it started raining again--heavily, this time. It looked like it was going to ease off, so I headed out for my remaining 4. I got very wet (and very cold) again, but the convenient turnaround turned out to be about 4 miles away, so I wound up doing another 8, for 34 miles. I had the heating on in the car on the way back!

I've never ridden in the rain before now, so I'm kind of surprised how much fun it is. I'm also surprised that my dry-only tires behaved so well, but if I make a habit of being caught in the rain , I need to get some new tires. They really don't shed water fast enough. A large sandwich, a hot shower, and some coffee later, and I'm much happier, if sore. Now I just have to go clean my filthy bike.


*Shannon--the curve and that bridge were interesting in the rain...