Day 216: Storm Number Five and the Wettest One Yet

The fifth storm in the series hit this morning. The rains started during the 2:00 am hour and they’ve not stopped since. The rains haven’t been that heavy, but they have been steady all day long. I kept looking at the radar in hope that the storm would move east, but it just sat there and continued to produce rain. To make matters worse the temperature was consistently hovering at 45 degrees. That’s a cold temperature to ride in, especially when soaking wet.

I was fortunate today to have my friend “F” along for the ride. There aren’t too many people that will go for a ride with you when it’s raining and the temps are as cold as this, but “F” likes this sort of challenge.

We stayed low on the mountain today so that we could avoid the high winds and even colder temperatures that were lingering above 1,000 ft. So we did one our “usual” rides and it was a blast. I could barely hear anything through my wool beanie, and rain jacket hood that was covering my head and was being held in place by my helmet. Everything was muffled, so talking with “F” was difficult at best, but we still managed.

By the time that we made it out of Tennessee Valley we were getting cold. I had more gear on than “F” and I was getting cold on my toes, knees, and fingertips. I think that we were out for exactly the right amount of time. Any more time outside would have become painful, as opposed to fun.

Thanks for the fun ride "F."

I decided to not risk killing off my digital camera today, so I opted for taking the two photos that you see here. One is my usual shot of my wet and muddy clothes at the back door, where I basically do a striptease after hosing the mud off of my bike, and the other is to show you what’s become a part of this week’s daily routine. That’s to dry my shoes, gloves, and helmet on my office space heater. I use my super safe hydraulic space heater. It’s great for drying this gear. The other gear goes into the laundry. That’s probably more than anyone wants to know. ;-) My PG&E bill was outrageous this month. Between all of the laundry that I need to do, the general heating of my cottage, and then running the space heater, has doubled my bill for this month. Uugh!

Distance: 11.37 miles
Calories burned: 1,456
Time: 1:21:11 hours
Elevation gain: 1,763 ft
Garmin Connect ride details: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22889838