The weather forecast for this morning featured semi-epic condition; cold, rain & wind. So I dutifully got out all the nasty-weather riding gear last night, mounted an extra flashing light, and in a strange way that most won’t understand, was looking forward to a ride in the elements with a couple of the “usual suspects” who aren’t typically scared off.

Wrong on all counts!

First, the weather. It wasn’t that cold, it wasn’t that windy, and I don’t believe there was a drop of rain until the very end of the ride. A far cry from the 100% precipitation forecast on weather.com for 8am last night! And second, no sign of Kevin (pilot Kevin), or Chris, or Mike. Just Ludo (who is potentially as much an all-conditions rider as myself, which doesn’t speak well for his ability to reason) and Karen. Karen, who humored us for a short while, flying up the hill, but eventually, on West Side Old LaHonda, decided that she needed to get to work sometime today. Oh, did I mention that I was slug-slow? Ludo asked if I was having trouble with my lungs or legs, but I’m thinking it was a team effort, no part of my body really enthused about going fast on a bike this morning. That’s pretty rare; usually I work into the ride and get stronger as I go. This morning, I felt better as I rode, but better is not always faster. Still, it was good to be out there, and good to remind myself how much nicer it will be on Thanksgiving morning on my “nice” bike (the current-model 6-Series Trek Madone) with its optimized-for-dry-conditions (meaning, fast) tires and Speedplay pedals instead of SPDs and ultra-light wheels and a feeling that it just wants to go. My rain bike is great for… rain. But it doesn’t have that zippy feeling to it. Kind of like a runner training with weights I guess.

For Thanksgiving, we traiditionally do a much longer ride than the usual Tuesday/Thursday romp, typically a loop out to the coast and back up Tunitas. Something to make room ahead of time for all the food we’ll be eating later. In the past, we’ve started at 8am instead of 7:45, so if you arrive at 7:45 and don’t see anyone there, give it a bit of time before heading out.