Let\’s look at the bright side.

For instance, I gripe about riding in the rain, especially when it\’s also cold and windy. I get chilled through as well as soaked.

On the other hand, riding in the rain has an upside: the falling rain does a lot to wash my road bike clean of grit, dirt, and muck. When I rode two days before New Year\’s, it wasn\’t raining; but there were some pretty dense fog patches, plus some wet spots on the bike path. When I got home after riding 50 miles, my poor bicycle was a mess!

Then, on New Year\’s Day, there was a light rain. I got wet through; but my bicycle wasn\’t in nearly the state it had been after the ride two days earlier. Maybe that was in part because the January 1 ride was a much shorter one; but I\’m sure the \”natural bike wash\” helped.

Incidentally, I find it easier to clean all that gritty stuff off my bike if I let it get dry first. Then most of it brushes off. That might be against bicycle-cleaning rules; but I don\’t have the hose and bucket to give my bikes a sudsy, outdoor washing.

So if it rains on my bicycle ride, I can look at the bright side.