My Record Still Stands

It takes hard work and damned stiff determination to maintain a "record" - that is a string of wins, a dynasty or a feat unmatched by anyone else.

Or in my case, a seven month string of riding my bicycle in the rain. I ride in the rain so damn much I even bought a bike just for riding in the rain (who knew I'd like riding it so much I ride it when it's not raining too). Since last November, I have ridden in the rain at least once per month (usually more than once) and now I can chalk up May in the "wet" column too.

I met my buddy Jay Hayes today and our plan was to ride up into Virginia and cruise around the Tour De Possum Creek course. The TDPC is a ride held each July in conjunction with Kingsport's Fun Fest - a week long festival with various activities, concerts and stuff. The TDPC is a big event.

The weather has been real iffy but the radar was clean before we left and although it was really windy, we were looking for about 55 miles of easy spinning with a few rollers thrown in just for fun. Seven miles into the ride it rained this hard, cold, wind driven rain for about 5 minutes. Just enough to get you cold and wet. No big deal. We went on into the Peoples Republic of Virginia and rode on. We saw a variety of wild life like a Fox (complete with fresh kill), a Blue Herron, and a nice sized Water Moccasin. I turned around to get another look at the snake but he didn't seem to interested in me and I wasn't about to do a Steve Irwin and chase his ass into the river so on we went.
The wind got a lot worse until it just sucked and we made the decision to turn around. I wasn't about to push myself a week before Tsali and Jay wasn't having much fun plus the clouds were starting to look scary. The cool thing was the massive tailwind we enjoyed for a long time after we turned back.
In almost the exact same spot as it rained earlier, it started raining on us again -except this time it wasn't foreplay, it meant business.
It pelted us with hard, cold rain (I'm not so sure there wasn't some hail in there too), driving winds and the best part, lightning. we just put our heads down and hammered back to where we started. Did I mention the temps dropped to the mid-50's? We finished cold and soaked but it was still nice to get out and ride for a few hours.

I wonder if I can ride in the rain every month for a whole year?

Hmmm.