It rained most of the day yesterday, and my ride home was quite wet. I was soaked to the bone by the time I got home — fortunately, it was in the 60s, so I wasn’t too cold. It rained pretty hard all night and the rain continues today. I drove to work so I wouldn’t arrive soaked. It looked like a possible inch of rain last night, and maybe another inch today. I’m wondering how much flooding we’ll get, with all this rain. I’m itching for some more rides. I managed to get some work done while it rained last night; it’s nice to get some of that out of the way so when it clears up, I can ride.

This morning has been weird. There was rain in the forecast for today, but it wasn’t raining when I was getting dressed, so I figured I’d ride to work in my work clothes. I’ve been doing this recently since temperatures have been mild, and it’s very convenient. Unfortunately the minute I stepped out the door, it started raining pretty hard. Generally if it’s raining I’ll still ride, but in different clothes. I didn’t want to take the time to change my clothes, so I made a last-minute decision to drive to work instead.

Strangely enough, within a few blocks of my house, the rain stopped and didn’t start back up again until after I got to work. I should’ve ridden.

It hasn’t been a good week for riding. It’s been raining a lot and on the one really nice day we had, I was sick. The weekend looks great, hopefully in the 60s and sunny.

This morning’s commute was strange. Rain was in the forecast, but when I looked outside it didn’t appear to be raining. I looked closer and could see a fine mist falling. I was going to ride in my work pants but decided against it. The parking lot was wet and there was more moisture falling. Once I got moving, it felt like I was riding through water droplets suspended in mid-air.

At first I thought I wasn’t going to get very wet. It still wasn’t actually raining. But as I rode more and more water accumulated on my helmet, glasses, and clothes. My wet ankles reminded me that I need to add a mud flap to my commuting bicycle. I felt water droplets on my face, and eventually enough water pooled on my face to reach my lips. The mist tasted slightly sweet. The air was thick with mist and fog, and I imagined anyone behind me must have seen the fog parted by my figure, and swirling eddies in my wake.

The mist got more aggressive during the second half of my ride, and I arrived at work quite wet but in good spirits.

It’s been one of those mornings. You know the ones. Seemingly everything goes wrong, including small and fundamentally unimportant things, but eventually they build to one giant heap of frustration.

I woke up late and stumbled into the second bedroom that functions as our home office. My computer was turned off and I couldn’t seem to turn it back on. I unplugged the power cord, and suddenly the computer sputtered, lights flashing and fans spinning, for about half a second, then fell silent again. It did this a few more times — with no power source connected! I was more than a little creeped out by this, and frustrated that it wouldn’t work. I messed with it for a few minutes, but ultimately gave up. I hope I’ll be able to fix it later. I used my file server to send an e-mail to work saying I’d be a bit late.

I got ready to ride to work and looked outside. Rain, as predicted. Great. When I went to extract my coffee mug from the dishwasher, I hit it on the underside of the counter where the dishwasher is screwed in, covering the mug with sawdust. I dropped the lid on the floor and it got covered in gunk. This was not going well. I almost forgot about three different items and kept having to go back for them as I continued my struggle toward the door.

Once I exited my apartment, I realized it was wet and foggy, but not actually raining much. Actually it was quite pleasant outside, a nice quiet morning. I paused to admire some buds on the trees in front of my apartment.

Budding trees

As I started riding, I felt better almost immediately. I actually like riding on cool, overcast, foggy days, if I don’t get too wet. There were very few people in sight until I reached campus, which had quite a bit of foot traffic. Some fields and paths off 7th Street approaching Jordan were flooded.

Path

Flowers have been planted on campus

When I got past campus I once again had the roads to myself. I didn’t push myself and savored the ride, knowing soon I’d be mired in work. I wished I could have ridden off into the distance.

Green light, and fog

I did take a slight detour to capture this:

Johnson’s Creamery

Even though it’s no longer a creamery, this is a real Bloomington landmark. All in all, a great ride to work. The ride home promises to be much, much wetter.

As the weather warms up, my commutes get easier and more pleasant. The flipside of this is that I don’t feel like writing about them as often, since those rides are pretty routine at this point. Somehow the harder winter rides — where I’m struggling to stay upright on the bike — were more memorable, and better blog fodder.

Lately temperatures have been around 30 during my rides to work, and reaching highs in the 40s and 50s. We’ve had some rain, some wind, even some hail yesterday. I guess spring is here in terms of unpredictability, but there have been few good opportunities to ride in springlike weather thus far. The only signs of the new season during my commutes are some budding trees, and some flowers which have been planted on campus. The birds seem to think spring is in full effect, singing and darting around me, especially as I ride on the bike path.

Sarah and I are going to Fort Wayne this weekend. It’ll be a bit cooler there, but I plan to bring my bike and ride somewhere, either with on my own or with the Three Rivers Cycling Club, with whom I’ve ridden before. I’m itching for some longer rides.