4:45PM: It’s been raining most of the day. I really don’t look forward to riding in the rain. It never stops me, but I’m filled with a feeling of impending doom, especially today, given that I’ve forgotten to put the mudguards on the bike (I realized this halfway across the 62nd Street Bridge this morning). I will be absolutely soaked by the time I get home. No matter. No sense fretting about the inevitable.

5:20PM: I always seem to ride better in the rain. I’ve been feeling a bit heavy in the legs this week, but the water tap-tapping on my helmet and splish-splashing on my feet distracts me. Riding through the Pine Creek Valley, I wonder aloud if we do indeed get rain for the next week if I’ll be able to ride to work by the start of next week. The creek is already swollen from today’s downpour, its brown water churning quickly over the rocks. Even over the din of the rain on my jacket, and the whir of tyres on wet pavement, I can hear the water crashing down next me.

5:30PM: As I pass the Chevy dealer in Etna, traffic forces me pick a poor line through a patch of large gravel on the road surface. My rear wheel catches a golf-ball-sized stone, and within ten meters I know what’s happened. I’ve flatted. This would be bad on any day, but today, after a flat earlier in the week took my last spare tube, it’s really bad. I will be walking the final two miles or so home. Normally I may be upset, but what’s the use? What good would that accomplish? Instead, I simply unfasten the chin strap of my helmet and begin my walk. A block later, Brad, another frequent alleycat organizer who also works north of the city at the Dirt Rag offices, pulls up next to me and offers a spare tube. I thank him profusely but decline, reasoning that the walk was superior fiddling with my recalcitrant rear tyre on the sidewalk in the rain. He nodded knowingly, and after our goodbyes he was on his way.

6:00PM: I hosing off my bike in the narrow corridor between our house and the neighbors. This is only the beginning of my work for the evening. I’ll be replacing the blown tube, cleaning the chain, and re-lubing the drivetrain. Given the forecast, I’ll be doing the latter task tomorrow night, and Monday night, and Tuesday night…

Posted on 11 May 2006