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There was a lovely rain on my bike ride home from work today. Back in the heady days of living in Hotlanta and riding 3 miles to the MARTA station, half a mile to work then the 12 miles home, people asked me all sorts of stupid questions, like

“What do you do when it rains?”

Get wet.

The rain is not the part you should fear, in fact, that’s the least of your worries. Think about it – rain is nice fresh clear water falling from the sky. It’s fairly refreshing and quite fun. Give it a shot.

The part that sucks is the oil, grit and rancid BBQ sauce that’s been stewing in the curb gutter for a month of Sundays in the hot, hot sun is now part of a deep quagmire that you gotta ride through. It’s the shit coming up from the road, not the stuff coming down from the sky that’s the worst.

Besides the obvious stuff, like the first half hour of a rainstorm being the most dangerous since the oil hasn’t been washed away yet and street plates/paint stripes are dangerously slick for the duration and that a bicycle without full coverage fenders is worthless, the next worse part is that people in cars – normally blissfully unaware of your existance, much less your status as a legal vehicle – have an even harder time seeing you. Get a bunch of annoying blinky LED lights on your bike. Aim them so they will get in the eyes of people in front, behind and to your sides. If they get annoyed by them, you’ve done your job.

Put all your stuff – keys wallet phone smokes lighter change knife etc – in your bag. I like Timbuk2 bags – they’re bombproof, waterproof and stylish. Never had a bad experience with one, except when the two I used to have got stolen.

All in all, riding home in a pounding-ass rainstorm is pretty nice experience and is usually a whole lot of fun. I sure as shit enjoyed myself on my ride home this evening.