We train in the rain

But oh my goodness, what a start to the season.

I know - I live in the Pacific Northwest. I'm supposed to not recognize the sun when it makes a rare appearance. (We actually say things like "the mountain is out today" when we can see Mount Rainier - because, frankly, for most of the winter, it's so gray that you can't see it at all. And it's HUGE!)

But seriously, today was like rain that happens in other parts of the U.S. - not here. And I know I've said that a lot lately. It was steady all day long; once in a while it let up a little (but never fully stopped) and once in a while it rained a little harder, but it was always present.

We were soaked through probably two miles away from my house. The plan had been approximately 50 miles - I shortened it a bit because it was just so nasty out, and we ended up riding 43.

You know it's pouring rain when you can't even muster the energy to get angry at a car that sends a wave of water over your side as it passes you. It doesn't matter anyway, because you couldn't have been any wetter.

When I went to bed last night, I prayed we'd have decent weather. I woke up multiple times in the night and still heard rain on the windows and the skylight; each time my heart sank just a little more.

So in the morning, my prayer switched to, "Well, if it's going to pour, please keep all of us safe." And I'm glad to report we all were.

It was actually a nice ride other than being water-logged. The route included a few decent climbs, fun descents, and about 8 miles of flat, fast trail. Plus, we got to go to the Black Diamond Bakery, which has yummy pastries and decent coffee. It's not bad for breakfast, either, but we weren't in a state to enter a restaurant. I think they had to get towels and dry off all of our chairs after we left - man, we were soaked. You could wring out my gloves, socks, booties, jacket, pants, and everything else - even the money in my shirt pocket - UNDER my alleged waterproof coat - was soaked. Everything everything everything. And my hair was one massive dreadlock.

Okay, how many times can I talk about how wet I was? Time to stop. Except for one more thing: you know what is the best thing in the world after a ride like that? The hot shower you take the minute you get home. Isn't that weird? The entire last part of the ride, I just kept thinking about how great that shower would be. Even though being in the shower implies I'm still soaking wet.

I know these rides are advance payment for the fun I'm going to have when the weather is nice and I'm so strong and fast on the bike. And I do like feeling hard-core (I imagined every car that drove by us was thinking, "These people are IDIOTS! And with the weather today, they didn't get caught in the rain - they LEFT THEIR HOUSES in this rain!"). But...I could definitely go for a drier ride sometime soon, just so I don't forget how to ride when rainwater isn't quenching my thirst so I don't even have to drink from my water bottles. Yeah, seriously.