Drizzle.
Although it's not 100% normal for this time of year, lately we've had very light rain for several days in a row. It hasn't been enough for me to throw on a rain jacket when I'm out riding, but the intensity varies and sooner or later I may have to if I fall into a certain window of precipitation.
You know what? These light showers don't bother me at all. Sure, it's a little chilly at times, and getting soaked might significantly add to the discomfort, but there is an upside. The vast majority of the roads haven't been swept yet. In addition to the piles of sand is copious amounts of dust. This dust gets kicked up by passing cars, wind, the odd bear coming out of hibernation... and the granules always finds its way under my contacts and into my lungs. Either I'm clawing at my eyes or hacking up a lung. Usually both.
The rain keeps the dust down. The rain helps the street sweepers do their job quicker, as they don't always have to wait for a water truck to douse the roads. Anything that speeds up the street cleaning process is good in my book, because this winter they dropped a lot of gravel.
Riding on the shoulder isn't always an option because of the gravel. I could ride through the gravel, but it also contains a winter's worth of broken glass, random car parts, and whatever else got shoved to the side of the lane. That means I have to take the lane, which I'm not adverse to doing, but I also don't want to inconvenience any other road user more than I need to. That's just part of being a member of civil society. Then again, nobody has ever accused me of excess civility.
Let it rain. Let the street guys do their magic sweeping and pothole filling. Let the dust stay down low where it doesn't make me pray for a quick and merciful death. I'm good with all of this.
A few raindrops isn't going to ruin my day.
You know what? These light showers don't bother me at all. Sure, it's a little chilly at times, and getting soaked might significantly add to the discomfort, but there is an upside. The vast majority of the roads haven't been swept yet. In addition to the piles of sand is copious amounts of dust. This dust gets kicked up by passing cars, wind, the odd bear coming out of hibernation... and the granules always finds its way under my contacts and into my lungs. Either I'm clawing at my eyes or hacking up a lung. Usually both.
The rain keeps the dust down. The rain helps the street sweepers do their job quicker, as they don't always have to wait for a water truck to douse the roads. Anything that speeds up the street cleaning process is good in my book, because this winter they dropped a lot of gravel.
Riding on the shoulder isn't always an option because of the gravel. I could ride through the gravel, but it also contains a winter's worth of broken glass, random car parts, and whatever else got shoved to the side of the lane. That means I have to take the lane, which I'm not adverse to doing, but I also don't want to inconvenience any other road user more than I need to. That's just part of being a member of civil society. Then again, nobody has ever accused me of excess civility.
Let it rain. Let the street guys do their magic sweeping and pothole filling. Let the dust stay down low where it doesn't make me pray for a quick and merciful death. I'm good with all of this.
A few raindrops isn't going to ruin my day.
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