Tundra_Man 

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1007:

Got up this morning feeling very unmotivated. Last night I had planned on taking the road bike and doing a 22 mile route before work. As I was getting ready to leave I was in a "I guess I'll just hammer through it, but I sure don't feel like doing this" mood.

Then I heard thunder. Odd. It wasn't supposed to rain today. I decided to quick check the radar. It looked like there was a storm just to the south of the city, but the direction it was heading in indicated it would miss us. Looks like I could still go on my long ride. I hem-hawed for a few minutes until it was too late for me to get the long ride in, then decided to hop on the hybrid with fenders "just in case" and do a shorter route.

About 1/4 mile from home it started to sprinkle. Not bad. About a mile from home it was a steady rain, but then another mile later it stopped. I guessed that I just caught the very edge of the storm and now it had passed. There was even a cool rainbow in the sky.

I guessed wrong. About 5 miles into my ride the skies completely unleashed. The rain came down furious for about 40 minutes, during which time we got about 2 inches (according to my rain gauge.) At first it was kind of fun, until the rain started stinging my eyes making it impossible to keep them open to see. My glasses were unable to keep the rain out of my eyes. I finally had to stop under a tree for about five minutes just to let my eyes calm down so I could see again. I took off again and made it about 1/2 mile before I was again blind and had to stop under another tree. That stinging eye thing sucks. There is literally no way to keep your eyes open when that searing pain hits, which I don't have to point out is pretty dangerous on a bicycle.

I rode slowly the rest of the way using my hand to try and shield my eyes from the pelting rain. It looked like I was saluting everyone. Finally, with only 1/4 mile left on my 12.6 mile ride the rain stopped.