Looks like it is going to be a wet one

So I do not like to complain about beautiful weather especially when we need the kind of weather we are getting. The ride home from school today was a good indication of what the rest of the week is going to be like. Lance and I were soaked clean through. It was fine for the first quarter mile, but as we rounded the corner into the neighborhood it was very evident what was in store for us.

Fortunately, I was prepared and I had prepared Lance. I had one a water repellant wind breaker jacket that I did not think that I would need today. It was not raining when I left the house to ride over to the school to pick Lance up. I wore it just in case because it had been raining most of the day. Lance by matter of habit and experience keeps a couple of emergency ponchos in his backpack. I also had an emergency poncho in the pouch on the bicycle I was riding.

This is important because what we saw in front of was dark clouds. Actually, dark clouds does not exactly describe what we were looking at. What was building were pitch black clouds where we needed to go. We still had roughly 1.75 miles to go. I told Lance we needed to put a poncho on him to cover his backpack because we were going to get wet. It was pretty much guaranteed from the look of those clouds.

It was fine at first. We did not get far. Of course, it was a good reminder that drivers forget how to drive when it rains. They have even less respect and courtesy for bike riders when it rains. That was very evident the heavier the rain got.

The further we went, the heavier the rain got and the worse the wind got. Essentially the more treacherous our ride home became. It was a little scary actually. I do not mind a light rain like we started out in, but what we ended out the ride in was just a torrential down pour and that was just not so much fun. We were committed at that point in the ride, however.

We made it. We survived. We stripped down out of our wet clothes in the garage and I hope that our tennis shoes are dry in the morning. They were sloshing with water so it is a big hope.

The weather for the rest of the week is a pretty good indication of what we are in for as far as riding conditions. I am glad tomorrow is Friday.

I am grateful that we had this experience today. Lance did need to know what it is like to ride in a driving rain and miserable visibility conditions. He needed to know what it was like to ride with a wind that literally moved him sideways on the road because he could not fight the sideways gusts. He needed to have that experience. It was a little scary but he will know what to do next time.