Riding in the Rain: A Pragmatic Response

[Lunchbag]

Well, I guess this is a good excuse for rain-related storytelling   

I never ride in the rain.  But sometimes it does happen.  A couple of years ago when I was trying to figure out what to buy, I rented a INT650 through riders-share.  I was all set up, and the threat of a storm was not going to put me off from a long-anticipated adventure.

Unaccountably, when I picked the bike up I chose to leave my rain gear in the car, thinking I would outmaneuver the storm.  Well, I was about 10 minutes into the ride when the rain started, and it pounded me hard before I even left the interstate heading west.  I took a break under an overpass, as I've seen other riders do, but it was a first for me.

I sat on the jersey barrier and ate a bag of cherries.  The cherries, that is, I did not eat the bag.  I spat the seeds into the rain drain and watched the storm with amazement.  It was good to be out the office.  Far from dampening the mood, the rainstorm just amplified the giddiness I already felt, as I wondered what the weekend might hold.  In my child-like brain, there was an adventure going on, and I was in it!  I felt sorry for the folks passing by in their boring cars on their boring commute.

Eventually the downpour lessened, so I pressed on.  Both the rain and the city traffic thinned steadily as I proceeded westward.  It was a warm July evening, so I dried off quickly after exiting the back side of the storm.  I was happy I left the rain gear behind, as I was carrying my things in a backpack, just a couple changes of clothes in ziplock bags, a toothbrush, and other essentials.

By the time I was on Skyline Drive, I was mostly dry and having an absolute blast on the INT650.  I'm still convinced I will get one someday.  With the touring seat.  I stayed overnight in Luray.  That evening I ate jambalaya down on the river walk, and I watched the fireworks while listening to a bluegrass band.

I headed south the next morning, back on Skyline Drive.  I had breakfast at a restaurant in the park that overlooks the valley.  I recalled having dinner at that restaurant on my honeymoon; we had both enjoyed the good fare and local wine.  But I was disappointed this morning to see that the fabulous view was now obscured by trees which grew up in the intervening 27 years.

I continued south beyond Skyline Drive onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, eventually exiting to visit Natural Bridge.  I took a 2-hr afternoon break to refuel with a moon pie and a mello yellow, and perhaps a gallon of water.  I lingered in the cave which was at least 30 deg cooler than the ambient temperature, which was 97 deg F.

I stayed the second night in Lexington, VA and met a group of hot-air-balloonists.  They invited me to an excellent barbecue dinner in exchange for agreeing to serve as ground crew the next morning.  The next morning I showed up at the VA horse park before sunrise and met my crew.  We waited a couple hours until they finally decided they couldn't fly that day.  The fog had lingered for too long, and when the fog cleared, the winds would exceed their limits.

So I said goodbye and zipped up to Harrisonburg for a mid-morning breakfast at a nice cafe downtown, and pressed on all the way to Cumberland, MD where there was an INT650 for sale in orange crush.  It was gorgeous, but they said they couldn't sell it because the last customer to ride it had reported a wobble above 45 mph, and they had not investigated it yet.  I agreed not to buy it, and headed back east and then south to return the bike where I started in the DC area.

The trip was invigorating, and I never regretted leaving the rain gear behind.  In fact, I haven't used it to this day, because I never ride in the rain!