Rain much?

I just got back from a 3 hour road ride in the rain. It was awesome. I started out under sunny skies, and the weather was perfect for about 45 minutes. Then it started to sprinkle. "No big deal," I thought. I can handle a little drizzle. I had planned a ride that was pretty much up and down the entire time, and was looking forward to some of the climbs on the route. After about an hour of drizzling, the rain stopped and it looked like it was clearing up. Not so much. I started hearing some serious thunder and then about 2 hours into my ride, the bottom fell out. Now, I have ridden in a lot of heavy rain, and I won't say that this was even close to some of what I've been through weather wise, but it was pretty heavy all the same. I managed to finish the 3 hours, and with about 15 minutes to go, the rain stopped and the sun came out in full force.

The best part is, I feel like I accomplished something today. Such as:

1. I made the weather my bitch. That's right. My bitch.

2. I gained a little bit of toughness both mentally and physically.

3. I found a new way to keep a cell phone dry in an unexpected rain. The first way that I have used for years is the empty water bottle method. However, since it started raining at the beginning of my ride, and I didn't want to dump all my liquids, I had to get creative. While I was thinking, I noticed that people litter a lot. I also realized that a lot of what they throw out could be useful in keeping something dry. So I kept my eyes open for a couple of seconds, and found a discarded ziplock bag. Problem solved.

4. I peed off the bike for the first time today. It was awesome. I felt very pro... peeing off the bike while riding in the rain. Good times. The only issue is, it is very hard to find a stretch of road that is either flat or slightly downhill for long enough to do this properly. You also have to watch out for houses...

5. I was reminded of how excruciating going downhill at 45mph in the pouring rain is.

6. I found a new species of frog. Well, probably not actually, but I was riding by the river, and looked at the road, and there were hundreds of tiny frogs, all slightly smaller than a cheerio, hopping across the road. Hundreds.

7. I had a blast riding my road bike in the rain, by myself, for 3 hours. I don't know why.