Quite a Weekend

A typical weekend in this part of the world. Rainy, chilly, then sunny and beautiful.

I was hesitant to take the bike on day 2 of a BRC. I had not ridden day 1 because of weather so I was looking forward to it the next day.

A bit of fog, overcast skies, chilly, rain in the afternoon forecast, but I rode anyway. Too many times I had driven the car only to have the skies clear toward the end of the day and miss out on a great hour long ride home.

As I was leaving for home at the end of day 2, it started raining. It looked bad, but the way I read the sky, I thought I would be better off to ride out of it. I was right. Ten minutes of rain, then I rode into sunny skies. The sun was starting to set and as I got closer to home, everything went orange. I let that poem we learned in school, She Sweeps With Many-Colored Brooms by Emily Dickinson, float through my mind.

The way I look at it, there's good rain and bad rain. If it becomes a safety issue, I stop riding. If not, I don't mind it. I've sure done enough of it over the years.

I enjoyed the ride. All of it. When the weather broke there was a sense that you sometimes have to take the good with the bad, earn your way, ride through the storm to come out the other side. I guess I was getting philosophical, my ride becoming a metaphor for life.

I often reflect on the things I'm going through in life when I ride. It helps me sort things out. Maybe that's one more reason I enjoy it so much.




I only let rain almost produce a crash once. I was making a left turn from a stop, accelerating in a lean when I crossed over a manhole cover. The rear whipped around for an instant and I had to correct my balance quickly. Another lesson to relate to life!