ColdTrafficRainDarkness

Forgive the lack of a proper introduction, i'm just going to start writing...so here goes. Cyclists, more than any other classification (yeah, we're a classification) of people, pay close attention to the weather forecast/report...and i've come to the conclusion that 95% of the time, the reports are flawed...take yesterday for instance...

I usually take mondays off, but seeing as it was (allegedly) going to rain heavily on tuesday, and clear on monday, i decided to switch up the rest day. Left work at 1, got on the bike by 1:45. Partly cloudy, fairly warm (16-18C). One thing I like to do while out training, is train with a purpose (training, in itself, is a purpose, but more than that...). I decided to go out to Incycle San Dimas, register for SDSR, maybe visit a friend out there, and head back home. Started raining lightly right as I left the driveway. Couple miles later, total downpours. Florida status. Rain is fine, as long as the temperature doesn't dip, and I was layered nicely, so the warmth stayed inside. Got to incycle. good guys. Rad bike shop. Heated, of course, so it was difficult to leave. I was back outside, cold wet and sorta annoyed. It wasn't supposed to rain like this! or be this freezing! It was down to 11 (celsius), and raining like mad, with rush hour comin up. There are no "sweet backroads" to take between hollywood and san dimas...just endless urban sprawl. and traffic lights. And it was already 4pm, home was 2 (mellow) hours away, and darkness was in 1.5hrs...So i convinced myself to jump on the bike, and pull into the first coffee shop in sight. Crawled to a Starbucks on the left. It was heated there, too. Grande Red Eye. Chugged a bit of it down, wayyy hot, so I poured it into my bottle (while forgetting to pour out the little bit of orange accelerade), and ended up with a delicious orange coffee caffeine bomb. It went ice cold in just a short while...but...Took me all the way home, nicely! 53x14, all the way home. Caffeine does wonders for me when used midway through a 4+ hour ride/race. Definitely one of the more "hard-man" type rides of the year.