Most of us Didn’t See This Coming

I didn’t ride yesterday.  I woke up in time, but was ill.  I went back to bed and slept for another 2 hours.  I was groggy all day.

This morning, I was better.

The forecast was for rain later in the day, but it looked to me like the Friendly Fixie Friday Breakfast Ride would be another good one.  When only 4 riders were at the Rusty Bridge, something seemed curious.  It was muggy.  It was warm.  It was cloudy.  It was dry.  But where was everyone?  We set off on an easy pace and were joined by Chip.  At the end of the trail, Mike B was waiting for us.  He had decided on a few minutes extra sleep so didn’t meet us at the Rusty Bridge.  Four of us  made our way into Annapolis under dark cloudy skies and just as we arrived at City Dock, there were a few light sprinkles.

I do enjoy these breakfasts.  Myna is gracious.  Jeff joined us (he came by car saying something about some real rain coming).  There is good conversation that is fast and free-flowing.  Mike B bypassed his usual gathering of friends and joined us.  We did notice that the sprinkles had turned into a light rain while we ate our breakfast.

About 30 minutes after our arrival, we decided to depart (begrudgingly, no one really wanted to go to work this morning).  By now, the rain was a steady downpour.  We made some adjustments, climbed aboard, and were the talk of the others in the coffee shop.  This crazy bunch simply walked out into the rain with only two rain jackets between the four of us and we acted as if it were not raining.  We climbed aboard and started up the slippery bricks of Main Street.  Soon we were passing by the Governor’s Mansion where the smell of bacon was overwhelming.  It is a good thing we had eaten.  The rain continued pretty hard until we got to about Arnold Station, then suddenly it let up, dropped 5 degrees, and according to my Garmin we started a pretty dramatic climb.  The barometric pressure dropped pretty quickly along with the cool air.  Below is a normal ride elevation profile and this morning’s elevation profile for nearly the same route.

This is the normal elevation graph

This is the elevation graph for this morning’s ride. Notice the last part of the ride where the barometric pressure dropped.

I wasn’t in the mood to extend the ride, so I simply headed home and called it a day.

When I arrived home, I was soaking wet.  I stripped off as much as I could without risking arrest for indecent exposure and hurried my way into a shower to wash the road grime off.  Most of us didn’t see the rain coming, but it was an enjoyable ride none-the-less.  Here is a shot of the radar for the morning.

This Ride: 27.5 miles
Month: 219.4 miles
2012: 3,582.2 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 17,435.8 miles