Man, what a weekend!
Saturday saw me wide awake and ready to go at 5 AM despite having NO reason to actually be awake at such an unpleasant hour. I tried to stay in bed and savor the chance to sleep in, but it was not to be. So, giving in, I got up and headed to the gym for a little experimental running. I specifically wanted to do a treadmill run because I was determined to figure out my knee issues and I reasoned that would be easier to do without having to concentrate on staying upright. (As clearly, that's not something I'm very good at...) Anyhow, mission accomplished! As I was running on the treadmill, I noticed that my right leg kept bending in towards the left, which I'm thinking neatly explains the searing pain I've been getting across my low quad and knee. The harder part, of course, is to figure out what to do to fix it.
Despite dire predictions of a rainy Saturday, the day looked to be clear later in the afternoon. With not much wind to speak of, I hopped on my road bike to get a quick 25 miles in before supper. I checked my Weather.com app before I left and it said "dry conditions will continue". LIARS. 10 miles in it started to sprinkle, then mist and then hail. That's right, little white rocks started to pelt me from the sky on my "dry conditions will continue" ride. I'm tempted to write in to complain. Well, it was tiny hail, and let up after a few moments. I abandoned my hiding place under a huge maple tree and continued on my ride. I could have turned around, but by my reasoning I was more or less as far from home as I was going to get, so I might as well get the hills in I was planning on. That's when it started to hail again. Hiding under an awning this time, I watched with growing dread as the rain came harder and the hail got bigger. After a few moments it seemed like it was going to clear, so I mounted up and kept riding. About 5 minutes later, it hailed AGAIN. At this point, I gave up, tucked my head down and just kept peddling. Clearly, there was only one way to escape this torment, and it didn't involve staying out past dark ducking under overhangs. It should be noted that the skies cleared about three minutes after I pulled into the driveway.
Well, I dried my shoes and helmet and headed out again on Sunday for the Mankato River Ramble, a ride I've been wanting to do for a few years now. Once again, the forecast was for dry and sunny weather, so I was feeling pretty good. I wore a heavier soft shell to guard against the cool morning, but all in all, I figured it would be a cake 42 miles. Well, you can guess what happened. About 4 miles in the mist started and continued at varying intensities until the last 20 minutes of the ride. The ride itself was very nice, and well supported with vast quantities of baked goods (and hot chocolate!). I'm reasonably certain the views would have been lovely, if I could have seen them out of my rain fogged glasses. Upon arriving back at the car, I promptly stripped (in public, though I did have a bath towel for modesty) and changed into my dry pants, but I was stuck without a dry shirt. Thankfully, my friend was kind enough to lend me one of his so that I did not shiver us into the ditch on the way home.
Here's hoping that fulfills my quota for wet, cold rides this fall. If not, I may have to start bringing a trash bag with for an impromptu rain poncho!
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