Turn around, fool!
I arrived at the LBS at 6:15 last night, ready to lead the Tuesday night version of Use It or Lose It. Another ride leader pulled into the lot at the same moment, but missing was the usual scattering of riders. Given the damp conditions and looming Thanksgiving Holiday, I thought that we might cancel the ride due to lack of interest, and head over to The Ram for the tapping of their seasonal holiday brews instead.
Silly me. No sooner did I broach the subject, then three cars pulled in to the lot with bikes on racks. I resigned myself to a night of no beer, and started getting ready.
I’d say that the weather was “moderately damp”. There were intermittent periods of heavy mist, but no real downpours to speak of. When my wife’s family moved to this area from Minnesota in the 60′s, her dad described the Seattle gloom as “it rains a lot, but it is not the kind of rain that gets you wet.” Usually this is a true statement. If you watch people walking through Seattle, the long term residents walk around without umbrellas, with their heads up. Recent transplants scurry, with heads down or under an umbrella.
Last night was an exception to the “not wet” rule. At times the mist was quite heavy. Nobody thought they would need rain pants, but we were all soaked to the skin after just a few miles. Although we cut the route short, it was still a nice ride. The Interurban Trail (which by day is a straight line of pavement through warehouses) once again provided the best wildlife moment when we startled an owl off his perch, and he rode along in front of our group for 50 yards or so.
As the group pulled back in to the bike shop lot, Big Roddy announced “You know, after I do a ride like this that I didn’t really want to do, I usually say that I was glad I did it anyway. Tonight is not one of those nights”. I’m halfway with you on that one, Rod. All my bike clothes are hanging on the bike this morning, drip-drying. I’m still glad I got out for a bit. Rides have been way to few and far between for me.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Leave a Reply