…but only through the vents in my helmet.
(A ride home, in disjointed vignettes. Artsy, non?)
(Non. Pas vraiment.)
What I was concerned about, as I started home, were the raindrops falling on my knees. There’s an uncomfortable period, at the start of a wet bike ride, when the water hits cold on your skin, and the motion creates a wind chill. It’s like getting in the pool. After a while, especially if you’re exerting yourself, it doesn’t matter that the water’s cold, or wet. Once you’re wet, you’re wet, and you don’t get any wetter.
Wait, that’s not true. It might be true if you weren’t wearing shoes and socks. If it’s REALLY raining, and you’re out there for long enough, your shoes fill up with water. And that is wetter.
By a few minutes into the ride, I was warmed up and able to enjoy the fact that this was summer rain — more than a few degrees above freezing.
Saw a van accelerate through a puddle to splash some guys waiting for the walk signal. The passenger-side door opened and a young guy leaned out and shouted back, and I quote, “haw! haw! haw!”
I hope those guys know each other so he and his driving buddy can receive the wedgies they so deserve upon their next meeting.
Overtaken by a grown-up man on a fixie.*
This guy won points for waiting until he was well past me before pulling back in, so I didn’t get rooster-tailed (nobody in their right mind would have a fixed-wheel bicycle…ahem…a fixed-wheel bicycle with fenders: that would ruin the clean look, and once you’ve crossed that line you may as well put the rest of the useful parts back on).
He also won points for continuing to be faster than me after passing me — this is less common than you would think.
Then the guy won more points for stopping at a red light. It must be very inconvenient to interrupt your rhythm like that when you only have one gear.
Made it home, using several of the working gears on my bike, and changed into some dry pyjamas. The end.
*For those of you not au courant with bicycle fashion, fixed-wheel bicycles are a HUGE fad right now. It doesn’t mean the wheel doesn’t go around. No, it is (slightly) less inconvenient than that. It just means the back wheel has no freewheel (or freehub), and no extra sprockets. Not only do you only get one gear, but you cannot stop pedaling. There is no coasting, and presumably fixie devotees would claim that this is awesome (though perhaps only riders of a certain vintage would use this specific terminology). On a straight stretch, you can tell a fixie from a distance by the hilarious frequency at which the rider’s legs go around.
