The Little Things.

Monday afternoon was the first time I threw a leg over a top tube after the final stage of the Spring Stage Race on Saturday.
  
It was chilly. It was windy. It was cloudy. You could see the bands of rain up next to the mountains.
 
I didn't stuff arm warmers in my back pocket, or for that matter, a packable rain jacket. No fenders or other rain gear either. I went out like it was a moderately pleasant day.


  Because of the wind direction, I got suckered on the first five miles of the ride. I felt good, so I pressed a bit harder on the pedals. When I made the sweeper into the wind, I realized that perhaps I wasn't quite so on form as I had initially believed. Still, I had it in the tank, so I put my head down and started cranking.
 
Then it started raining.
 
I cranked on in the drops, figuring it was a better way to stay warm.
 
I passed Pete Johannsen, out training to put the hurt on me in the next race we both line up for. He was wearing a rain jacket, and I could see the pitying grin under his mustache as we passed going in the opposite direction on the Glenn Highway bike path. He was going down the false flat with the wind at his back, while I was grinding the false flat into the wind.
 
I cranked on in the drops, figuring the lower I was, the better.
 
Eventually the turnaround appeared, and I wasted no time in putting myself in an orientation to make use of that tailwind. Except the wind had shifted and it was now from the side, blasting my left with a the fat drops that had just started to fall.
 

I cranked on in the drops, figuring maybe it would make me a smaller target for the rain.
 
I was on the last leg of my ride when I found myself grinning. It may have looked like a death rictus to everyone else, but I knew the truth. I was enjoying myself. Weird.
 
It's been a while. Far too long. I hope such rides won't be so few and far between in the future. Not the rain or the cold or the wind, but the fun.
 
I like fun.