Not to worry, I got suited up in my rain jacket and put aside the thought of riding my "retro" ride (which is the only road bike I have sans fenders), and pulled down my Salsa Casseroll (which does sport fenders, nice long full ones at that), and rolled out to the meeting point for the club ride.
As I rode into the parking lot, I started scanning for cyclists maybe huddling under the eave of one of the storefront. It didn't take long for me to start murmuring "Bueller, Bueller, Bueller?" to myself. It seems the rain had kept the hardy souls (or is that soles) of the rest of the bike club at home, safely snuggled in their warm beds. As I was just about to give up, the ride leader of the day, Mike, spotted me from his car. Turned out he had come down with a cold a few days earlier, but drove down anyway to let folks know he couldn't lead the ride today. Kudos Mike! At least you made it to the start when it was just too wet for others to come out and play.
After chatting with Mike for a bit, and offering some route suggestions for next weekends ride, which is another ride he's leading, I set off, a club ride of one, down the road. I decided to do the ride that had been planned for the day, which isn't terribly hilly, but enough to "stretch the legs" a bit.
I don't remember the exact time the rain cleared out for good, but I think it was around 10am, an hour after the official start time of the club ride. I know I noticed other cyclists on the road by then in groups, before that I only saw one or two other riders out. After a stop for some bad coffee (they really need to get someone new brewing the mud at at the cafe, the young gentleman behind the counter looked more interested in reading his guitar magazine than taking my money or doing anything else related to the business at hand), I turned back and headed home.
No, I didn't actually see any rainbows during my ride, but you know what? It was a nice ride anyway. I was prepared for weather that kept others indoors. And by the way, how much rain does it take to shut down a club ride? Less than 1/10 of an inch. Yep, thats it. Most people probably get more water on them taking a shower.
So fender up! Pull on that rain jacket (come on, I know you have one, we all do!) and saddle up! You never know if there will be a rainbow around the next corner waiting for you if you don't get out there.
