Riding in the Rain!

Yesterday's ride was my longest ride (since I did 100 miles on a mountain bike PC (pre - convent). We did 2 laps of 33 miles so the second time I around I knew what I was getting myself into.  Nokesville is really a very nice ride except...well...NOKESVILLE folks...LOVE their trucks!!!  And they love to rev them up while they are passing you at breakneck speed!!!  No worries, though...we all did well.

I had such great partners in crime yesterday, Eric, Mairead, Carol and Lucy road with me, while we had Lisa waiting for us at the park if we should need anything.

I will admit, during the first 6-10 miles of the road I was a new kind of miserable.  There wasn't a dry spot on my body. The rain was coming down so hard I couldn't see.  I had to take off my glasses but that led to water getting sprayed into my face. If you rode too close to the person in front of you, the "plume" of water coming off their bike tire landed directly in your

lap....ah well...here's where the mental toughness drill comes in.  I totally was trying to talk myself INTO and OUT of riding the second loop.  But dang it...all this training is actually paying off and at the end of the first loop, although I was soaked and cold and I could not really feel my feet, I definitely had another 33 miles in me....so out we went again.

Thanks to Eric and Lucy, the second loop "seemed" faster than the first although the trusty Garmin said were were slightly slower.  Lucy and I are blaming that on the Nokesville Day parade....we had to ride VERY slowly the last mile or so in order to avoid all the people who weren't really paying any attention to where they were going..

And of course, by the time we finished....the rain stopped.

It was another great training ride. For me, though, it seems to be more about outside temperature than actual rain.  I love riding in 60 degree weather...Florida is NOT going to be 60 degrees (unless the "global warming" trend keeps up). Personally, I'm praying for a cold front!