Where did I put those booties?

I rode the rain bike today. The last time I rode it in rain was last June. (I did ride it for a bit during Race Across Oregon this year in July, but it didn't have fenders on then)

So late last night I was looking for bolts,  installing fenders, lubing chain, looking for my booties, storm socks, long sleeved jersey, windproof long pants, etc.

I eventually got it together, sort of.  As I pedaled the 8 miles to meet 4 others I heard an ever increasing rattle.  I traced it down to fender brace bolts that I had neglected to tighten. I finger tightened it and pedaled on.  That worked for about another mile until the rattling quit........and the bolt disappeared.

We were meeting at REI, which would have a replacement bolt, but was not yet open.  I rode back to Fred Meyer which had a bolt.  I arrived back at our meeting point with about 3 minutes to spare before pedals down.

The roads were wet, but no rain was currently falling.  Temperature was tolerable, if perhaps just a bit on the cool side. We rode through Rosemont, Rivergrove, and West Linn.  We then made our way along Willamette Falls Drive through Willamette and then on to Wilsonville via Mountain Rd.

The weather was improving a bit, we now had large patches of blue sky, interspersed with billowing clouds that looked like they could offer downpours, hail, or lightning at just about anytime. The sun did warm things up for us though. Not hot by any means, but comfortable.

In Wilsonville we got on a bike path that followed the Willamette River and crossed under I-5.  The path was littered with leaves and pine needles but the biggest danger was a little bit of green slime growing in the shaded portions.   With the dampness on the trails it was pretty slick.   We came into a tight corner, sharper than 90 degrees, and one of our riders unclipped to make the turn.  A following rider went down hard.  Perhaps braking too hard to avoid the unclipped and slowing rider?  Maybe just slipped.  Whatever the reason our rider was down on the asphalt and wincing in pain.

After about 20 minutes of considering the options. we decided for all of us to ride back to REI in the most direct fashion. It would cut a few miles off of our intended route, but we'd get our injured rider back quicker.

We had a following wind as we rode back north.  That made for easier pedaling for all of us.  We covered the 8 miles pretty effortlessly.

Once back at REI (where they were having a big sale outdoors in the parking lot) our injured rider decided to do a bit of bargain hunting.  He was in a short sleeved jersey, and shorts.  By now it was raining and the rest of us watched him shop as we stood under cover.  He was banged up, wet, and cold, but continued the search for bargains.  One of our group said he wasn't happy unless he was miserable, I suggested he must certainly be there by now!

After a bit, the rain quit and we began to go our separate ways.  Dave and I were hungry so we took a look at the sky and figured we could get the few miles to McDonald's before the next shower hit.   Love it when a plan comes together, we made it.  We were sitting inside, dry and warm, as a deluge fell.  We kept an eye on the sky as we ate.  At one point there was a break, but we could see more dark clouds bearing down.  I opted for a refill on my soda.

Finally we saw a bigger patch of blue sky coming our way.  We decided it was time for us to make a run and the last 7 miles of today's journey. We took off and pedaled southward. We noted significantly cooler air than when we started out today.  Looks like a cold front had passed through.

We had hoped to miss the rain, we almost made it.   We had about 5 minutes of rain as we were about 2-3 miles from home. Luckily it wasn't one of those hard showers, just rain.

Surprisingly, it was the only rain to fall on us all day.

It was my first day of wet riding since last June.

I survived.

  ............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today..........51..............0.............0..........0..............51  Jan.............105.............34............0..........0............139 Feb...........428............108.............0.........24..........536 March.........809..............0.............0.........22..........831 April........1010..............0.............0...........0.........1010 May..........1000..............0............20........0.........1020 June.........1500..............0.............0..........0.........1500 July.........1558..............0.............0..........0..........1558 Aug...........531..............0.............0..........0............531 Sept..........730..............0.............0..........0............730 Oct............616.............0.............0..........0.............616 YTD..........8273.........142..........20.......46..............8432