Riding in the rain

I'm on Manchester Road in South Glastonbury and it's drizzling. The road is surface is wet, and I'm traveling slower than my usual pace. The bike nearly came out from under me when I braked a little too hard going down Quarry Road, so I've got to be careful.

It's a ride home from work, and I'm testing out the resistance to water of some of my clothing choices as well as my panniers. No Nicole on this one. It's just a solo ride today.

For the time being, I'm relatively dry. I decided to forgo fancy materials such as Gore-Tex in favor of Louis Garneau's "Clean Imper" jacket. It's basically a glorified poncho with vents. At the beginning of the ride, it felt like a garbage bag flapping around in the wind. As I rode on, the water bonded to material, thus weighing it down to prevent the sleeves from whipping in the wind.

My feet were a different story. My Bontrager Race Mountain shoes work fairly well--to a point. The shoes designed as a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, they are designed to breathe for the rigors of long-term riding. On the other hand, they are also built to keep the rider's feet safe from the amount of water that he would encounter. 15 minutes into the ride and my feet are still relatively dry.

I keep pedaling onward, and I can't help but smile. For some twisted, masochistic reason, it's fun to ride in the rain. It's good to mix things up a little bit, and there is a distinct pleasure of uniqueness that comes from enjoying something that others would find intolerable.

As I approach Hebron Avenue, I remind myself to go slower. No racing to beat the red light this time. I gently ride the rear brake as I coast to the intersection and wait for the light to turn green.

Green light. As I cross through the intersection, it starts to rain a little bit harder. I'm a little worried about my handlebar mounted GPS. They say it's water resistant, but I don't want to take chances. I keep pedaling as I seamlessly remove the GPS with one hand and place it in the rear pocket of my cycling jersey, safely tucked under my impermeable jacket.

My feet are getting a little bit wetter. Soon, I'll just hit a saturation point and my feet will be socked. Adventure cycling recommends shoe covers, and I may have to take them up on it. I've never ridden longer than my ride home from Bicycles East in the rain.

I'm at the Manchester Country Club and now it's really starting to rain. Normally I'm riding hard at 25 miles per hour during this stretch, but under these circumstance my only concern is to just keep the bike moving. My feet are wet now, and everything after this point is total saturation down there. My torso, however, is completely dry.

I turn off the road onto the Charter Oak Greenway. As usual, I turn the bike at a relatively steep angle until I feel the bike start to give under me. Thankfully, I react instantaneously and upright the bike and keep pedaling. I smile as I think about how many professional tours are won and lost because a rider failed to adjust his riding to wet surfaces.

I arrive at my apartment, walk up the stairs and open the door. Nicole and her parents are in the living room, to my surprise, and they see what looks like a soaking wet boyfriend. What a surprise for everyone!

I smile and say hello. Nicole says I better change. I quickly excuse myself and change out of my cycling clothes and into more appropriate attire. I towel off my soaking wet feet, run my hands through my hair and re-introduce myself. Viola!

The bags held up great, as well. My rear panniers have an integrated waterproof liner, and my work clothes, shoes, wallet and cellphone are as dry as a bone!

Some water collected outside of the inner liner. I'll have to just fully load up and do an extended ride in the rain to foresee what will happen on the bike trip. Riding home for 35 minutes is one thing. Riding all day is another . . .

Until then!

~KM

Riding at night

The days grow shorter, bit by bit, everyday after July 21st. This Thursday marked the first time all season that dusk greeted me as I went about closing down Bicycles East. Nicole had called earlier asking if I needed a ride.

"Of course not!" I said, a bit insulted. "I rode to work and I'm riding home."

"Okay," she said. "But there is rain in the forecast tonight."

"Oh." I said. "Well if it rains, I'll call you."

The rain held off, so needless to say I didn't call Nicole. At 5 after 8, I was turning off the lights at Bicycles East getting ready to ride home--alone--when I heard a voice.

"Oh yeah, you wanna look like a U.F.O. out there."

Nate was commenting on Nicole's 500 candlepower Cateye headlight. She quietly and nonchalantly rode in, hoping the rain would hold of so we could ride together!

In a moment of privacy though, Nicole voiced her concerns.

"I'm already tired," she said. "How am I going to do this trip?"

"You're tired because you worked a long day, not from riding your bike."

"Yeah, well, we'll see." She remained unconvinced.

I'll start out slowly, I thought to myself, as we ride home. Nicole had probably pushed herself on the way here, I reasoned. I figured a nice leisurely pace back home would leave everybody feeling swell.

This relatively slow pace (about 10 miles per hour) didn't last long. As dusk turned to nightfall, sporadic raindrops interrupted my plan for a leisurely ride. I wondered to myself how I could appropriately ask to Nicole if we could pick up the pace.

Fortunately I didn't have to.

"Can we go any faster." she asked with urgency, "I don't want to get wet!"

Fair enough. Like a horse out of the gate, we both pedaled hard, closer to our usual 15 mph. The few and far between droplets of rain increased to a drizzle. Words can't quite describe what it's like to see 210 lumen's of light focused on a few fleeting raindrops, other than to say it was intriguingly spectacular. All of a sudden, we didn't mind if it rained harder; it was kind of relaxing.

Aided by Manchester Road's steady descent after the Country Club, we coasted around 18 mph back to the apartment. Nicole felt a little less apprehensive after the ride.

"Don't tell anyone," she said. "But now I feel energized."

Relax darling, your secret is safe withe me. ;

We've now got four weeks to go. Crunch time.

~KM