10 Percent Rain My Rear End – Said the Soggy Cyclist

Now then, you would think with all the fancy gadgets and smart phones we have these days that they could at least get the weather right with an app to show you exactly what was happening. No such luck and it kind of reminds me of when GPS first came out and a lot of the streets were not even listed, and the GPS wasn’t that good, it would tell you to turn one place, and actually get you lost. I know because I had a very large motor home and it would take me down the wrong way on one-way street, or take me into dead-end streets with no turnaround.

Today, I am a long-distance cyclist and I rely on the weather, especially the wind so I know what I will be dealing with. If the wind is going to be blowing against me on my return trip, chances are I’d be better off to go the other way, rather than fight ahead when on the way home. Of course there is the issue with precipitation too, and luckily I live out in sunny Southern California, and it doesn’t rain that much. You would think however when it is forecast for a 10% chance of rain, that you be pretty much okay. Well, that’s not what happened to me recently, and this isn’t the first time.

“10% rain, my rear end,” as I had been riding through the rain about 15 miles and it was getting worse and worse. I just needed to make it to the next city to duck into a Starbucks, or into a shopping center and let the rain pass. I finally did make it to the next city, but the rain didn’t pass it just kept getting worse. Between thunderstorm cells, I noticed the rain lightened up just slightly, so off I was, another 26 miles to go to get back home. And it rained off and on the entire time. When I did get home I was cold and soggy, but I didn’t fall or slip even though I have those skinny cycling racing tires.

So all-in-all it wasn’t a good day, and thankfully I made it back for a much welcomed hot shower. Of course, I made the fatal error during that cycling expedition, I trusted our weather, I trusted our gadgets, and they led me astray. I guess I’ll never learn. I don’t care what anyone tells you the weather reports they are unreliable, and especially unreliable when you are out in the elements when it really matters. Please consider all this and think on it.

https://youtu.be/41Iu3Zwruq8