40 Miles of Nice, 60 Miles of Rain

The ride started well enough. We come to the Withlacoochee State Trail for the annual fall ride because it's a great trail and because it has tons of well stocked rest stops. These people know how to do rest stops. Like oreos with a dollop of peanut butter, a slice of banana, and a couple of raisins. Or salty cheese crackers with peanut butter and banana slices. This on top of the usual fruit, sports drinks, cookies, and cups of little munchie things. It is one of the nicest places to ride a century in the state.

But early in the ride we began to see a problem. Clouds were on the horizon.

At about mile 40 it began to drizzle. By mile 50 it was a steady light rain. I call this "a steady light rain" in deference to the people of the Carolinas who are being inundated by torrential rains. Whatever term I use to describe the rain, we did get very wet. At one rest stop we bolted to the welcome shelter of the rest stop's tent. "It wasn't raining till you got here," said the volunteer ladies shaking their heads. And so it went. A mile and a half from our motel, and the end of our ride, we saw the first lightning.

We made it to our room. By the time we had stripped off our wet gear, tended to the bikes, showered, and dressed in street clothes, the rain had stopped and the sun was peaking through.

What we looked like riding in the rain.

We couldn't help ourselves. We laughed.

Miles: 101