Cycling in the Rain

Last night right when I was about to leave work, a big thunderstorm blew into my area. Rain--even heavy rain--doesn’t faze me, but I thought it would be best to wait until the lightening stopped or at least appeared to be further away. But I was supposed to go running with someone at 5:30, so I was rather impatient to be off. Finally, after waiting around for 12 minutes, I reasoned that since I wouldn’t be the tallest thing around (I would mostly be biking through town), and the lightening and thunder had a few seconds in between, I would be fine, so I set off.

By this point, it had been heavily pouring rain for maybe 15 minutes. Keep in mind that I live in an area with clay soil, lots of hills, and poor street drainage. Those factors plus heavy rain usually result in this.

What followed was the best bike ride of my life. The normal familiar, safe and almost boring paved roads and parking lots that make up my route were transformed into seemingly fathomless lakes and swift rivers. I probably looked crazy, but I had the time of my life, whooping and shouting excitedly as I plowed through deep puddles and cycled up gushing streams that had magically appeared where streets used to be. It was fantastic.

It was probably not particularly safe--aside from the lightening, visibility was less than optimal (it was still raining of course). But I’m a careful cyclist, obeying traffic laws and watching carefully for unobservant drivers. I made it to my destination without incident and still jazzed by my adventurous bike ride. I did have the sense to wait for the lightening to stop before going for a run on top of a hill.

The run itself was also fabulous: everything had that stillness and freshness that comes after a good, hard rain. The air was cool; the grass and trees were a dark vibrant green. As I ran down the hill, I could see mists filling the valley off to my left. Distant hills were already obscured. Away to my right, the sunlight streamed through gray and white clouds onto the grassy expanse below.

I’m also finally at the point where I can run the 2.2 mile loop and not feel like I’m about to die the last half mile. I actually seem to get into a sustainable rhythm by the second half of my run. It’s a surprising feeling--I’ve never had the thought “I could keep this up for a while” before while running.

So all in all, I had a wonderful and adventurous evening. The next three evenings will be quite different from last night: I’ll be leaving my regular office job early to go cater for the next three nights, and probably won’t get home until past 10 pm. It’ll be fun but rather exhausting.