Soaked To The Bone

Yesterday's ride was one of the worst rides I've been on in a long time as I got completely pelted with heavy rain and sleet. Actually I take that back, the ride itself was good, the weather was horrible. I left New Berlin under partly sunny skies and very little wind and headed towards Waukesha for a nice 2 hour ride. I got to the outskirts of Waukesha and noticed very ominous looking thunderheads heading my way from the north and I could tell that it was raining near Pewaukee but I figured it would stay North of me as I made a loop south of Waukesha. Within 10 minutes I was riding in 25-30 mph winds, a complete downpour, and on top of that, some very painful, pelting sleet. The rain was coming down so hard I couldn't see 15 feet in front of me and there was no way I was taking off my sunglasses as the sleet would've definitely inflicted damage to my eyes. After 15 minutes the roads were full of 3-4 inch deep puddles and it was all I could do to stay upright. I couldn't turn around because I was at the halfway point of my loop so the distance was obviously the same either way, so I trudged onward and started to head back to New Berlin. As soon as I hit Hwy. 164 in Waukesha there was almost a clear line in the road where the rain stopped and by the time I got back to New Berlin I was under sunny skies again and the roads were completely dry. Throughout the whole storm I managed to finish my 60 minutes of Tempo work as I kept a diligent eye on my HR monitor to make sure that I was completing my workout. I got home and Melissa couldn't believe how soaked I was, she didn't see or hear the thunderstorm in Waukesha and said that it was completely sunny the whole time I was gone, go figure. So.....I finished my two hour ride, got in my tempo work, got completely soaked to the bone and as a result had to air out my shoes and spent 2 hours overhauling my bike. I took the bottom bracket off my bike during the overhaul and enough water poured out to fill a juice glass. I then spun my wheels and I could hear water sloshing around as I spun them, I'm sure the rims were full of water. I didn't take off the tires though because that is a lot of work, I figure they'll dry out eventually. Well, tonight the forecast is calling for a good chance of severe storms so we'll see if I get outside. If I do get out then the program calls for some Steady State intervals and another 2 hour ride. Tomorrow will be an easy 2.25 hour ride and then Friday will be an easy 45 minutes with some sprints thrown in. Until next time.........