Fool in the Rain...

The best thing about riding in a thunderstorm is, you get used to the deluge really quickly, since it's only a matter of minutes before you're as soaked and soggy as a swamp rat. No false hope that you might escape it, that if you only pedal harder and faster, you might outrun it. Tlaloc is pissed and he's decided to extend the metaphor. It's on and it's heavy and it's laden with mean intent and it's looking to displace some aggression. And it's instantaneous. No pussy(foot)ing around. Between streetlights (one red and the next green), the sky flips from Jekyll to Hyde and the clouds empty their contents down upon your pitiful pelt like so many incontinent bladders. Soon runnels loaded with street grit escape the orbit of the front wheel to splash against your shoes with viscious precision even as the rear wheel's cockscomb paints a skunk stripe down the crack of your ass. Drenched is drenched, baby, there are no degrees. It's like being a little bit pregnant...no such thing. You're wet and you're damn well going to stay wet for the remainder of your ride and for a good bit of time after you get home and there's nothing you can do about it except embrace it and maybe even celebrate it because, hateful as it may be, being wet and cold and damn near invisible to cars on the road is still preferable to a cold, dank hole in the ground for eternity and a day.

The worst thing about riding in a thunderstorm is, it's over so quickly that there was never any need to get used to the drenching. About the time you come to accept your woeful lot, to embrace it (because you're the grateful type with a true appreciation for the concept of relativity), it's over. Nothing left but little streams racing down your cheeks from your wet 'n wild 'do and a load of ballast rolling around pell-mell in some heretofore unperceived pocket between the sole of each foot and its shoe as you pedal on.

Yeah, got caught out in it this evening. Hit up Bread and Brew in NW DC with a friend after work for a plate and a pint and ended up hopping on the saddle just as the storm started up. A real masher, this one, with heavy winds and rain that felt more like bell sinkers than water droplets. It's moments like these that make you appreciate the nice days and a waterproof pack.

I'm back on the blog, at least for now. Been in a funk for a while, but I think it's turning back around now. I'm in the initial planning stages of doing something epic on the bike early next year. Details to follow as they unfold. Should be a good summer and fall. Stay posted.