Tips for new players #3

Don't ride your bike in the middle of a storm. You will be drenched by the time you get home.

I so welcome the rain we are having this weekend. After a week of 30+ degrees, the garden is looking a bit haggard and so am I. However, it is not the kind of weather I enjoy riding my bike in. I wouldn't think it was too safe either, with the possibility of lightning, big puddles to skid in and nutty Moreland drivers (the rain seems to bring them out in droves).

This morning however, at about 10.30am, I found myself with no other option. I had to return the Flexicar to its Albion Street home by 11.00am and I'd parked the bike there the previous day when I went to collect the car. It was pouring down with rain.

Gritting my teeth, I told myself 'this is the decision you made when you decided not to get another car. You have to brave the elements and ride, walk, catch public transport whatever the weather may be'. So I drove the car back and retrieved my bike to begin the journey home. It was wet, really wet. I got out of the car and locked it, zipped up my rain-jacket and pulled the hood tightly around my face, fumbled around unlocking the lock, wheeled the bike up to the pedestrian crossing (the one where the whole building fell down a couple of weeks ago) to join the bike path and then realised I'd left my helmet and water bottle in the car.

Damn, damn, damn! This meant I would have to go back to the car, ring Flexicar to open the car for me, fumble around with keys and cards to lock up the bike and unlock the car in the pouring rain, wet the inside of the car as the water dripped of my rain-jacket and just make myself feel more wet and uncomfortable. I needed my helmet, so I did this.

The ride back was most unpleasant. I took it slowly, worried that I might skid in the wet. The rain pelted down, drenching anything not covered by my rain-jacket. My bag, my legs, my feet, my hair were all soaked. I was fantasising about a nice, hot cup of tea all the way home.

The worst part of the ride was the hill up Reynard Street, a slow but steady incline into a head wind today. As uncomfortable as I felt from being so wet, I felt proud of myself as I turned the corner into our street, having braved the rain and ridden home in it. I told myself 'It's not so bad. You're toughening up. That's all you need to do'. The rain was dripping off me as I walked in the back door and stripped off my drenched clothes. I haven't enjoyed a cup of tea as much as I did this morning for long, long time.