Lake Loop / Nov. 1 Rain Edition

Oh, my. Sunday was a wet day for a bike ride. But there's no bagging it when Branson sends this note: "Wind's howling- it's raining- the temperature's dropping- I'M IN!!!"

We left at 8:15 on the Lake Loop in a soaking rain. Here's an enthusiastic-looking Byron at the start.



The rain and headwind continued for 70 miles. What to wear in the rain? I couldn't find my O2 rain jacket so I wore a Joneswares wool t-shirt, a Wabi Woolens jersey, my RUSA wind vest, long fingered gloves, a Joneswares wool skull cap and wool socks, and Pearl Izumi tights. I was never dry but only cold once, when we stopped for a half-hour lunch. We had drying roads and a tailwind for 60 miles, and that considerably sweetened the ride memory. We are in the middle of fall here and the roads were littered with leaves and pine needles.

Branson and I rode fixed and were off the front, but were not too far ahead of Geof, Byron and Brian, riding his very first 200K. Talk about getting a good taste of randonneuring. I headed back up the route in the dark to check on them. Fantastic running lights front and aft.

We had some incredibly positive car-bike interactions, including one driver who rolled up next to me during daylight hours to say how visible my rear blinking light made me.

On a weekend when all the club rides got canceled, I'm giving our crew the nod for getting out there and knocking out the century/200k of the month on Day 1.