I love riding in the rain.
This post got rather long, but I wanted to share some thoughts on the how and the why. I worry that people lose out from thinking about rain as a problem.
My first multi-day ride, many years ago, was an MS fundraising tour. Because it was a big challenge at the time, I was serious about training rides. One morning I set out after breakfast in a light drizzle. Once I was two blocks away from home the drizzle became a steady rain. Prior to that day, I would have readily turned around. Visions of another cup of hot coffee and the morning newspaper dangled in front of me. But then I remembered. In just two weeks I'd be riding all day for an entire week. There'd be no turning back, only going on.
So I gritted my teeth, scrunched up my face, and plodded on.
I had a 45 mile ride planned that day. As the morning went on the rain intensified, with intermittent downpours. Fortunately I had good enough raingear so that I was able to maintain a comfortable body temperature, but I was WET, WET, WET.
About halfway through the day I was riding through wooded country around a lake. As I watched the whitecaps blending with the torrents of rain, I suddenly opened up to what an incredibly beautiful scene I was in the middle of. One of my mentors is the writer and teacher Parker Palmer. He tells a story of freezing up during an Outward Bound course and learning the lesson that sometimes the only way to get OUT of something is to get INTO it. I ungritted my teeth, unclenched my face, and smiled.
What a gorgeous day for a bike ride.
That was almost 20 years ago. Now that I've toured quite a bit around North America and Europe, and turned into a year-round bicycle commuter (in Minnesota, no less) I've decided that there are almost no bad days for a bike ride. Extreme heat and humidity spoil it for me. And while I used to ride down to -5 F as I've gotten deeper into AARP land I've started to draw the line closer to +15 F.
A few tips on how to help this along: there's no such thing as bad weather, there's just bad equipment. For cold weather I've learned a lot about the virtues of wool and layering. For rain, I've invested in an EVent jacket and gore-tex pants. I'm not afraid to put on shoe covers, and have over a dozen assorted gloves for different conditions. For heat with humidity, given my body type, I know no cure.
I wasn't lying when I said I love riding in the rain. There's a peacefulness to it that is unique. I have fond memories of multiple sequential cold all-day rains in western Montana on the Northern Tier. I can treasure my memories of storm clouds building over central Germany, and a steady drizzle along the North Sea in the Netherlands. Not to mention days at work when my co-workers come up to me with the always astonished look accompanying the question: "Did you ride your bike TODAY?"
My answer is, of course, it's a beautiful day to be out on a bicycle.