They Sure Meant “Challenge”! They sure meant “challenge” when they designed the April Love to Ride challenge! I really got it this morning; not so much the jaunt on the road bike as pedaling to work a half hour or so afterwards. While I was out on the road bike, I saw distant lightning; but heard no thunder. During the return leg of my ride, the lightning seemed to be getting closer, which made me uncomfortable. In fact, it almost seemed to be chasing me! I still didn’t hear thunder; but while I’m riding, lightning may be closer than it seems. Even if there isn’t a headwind, the wind noise from my own motion muffles the sound of the thunder. Outward bound, there was only a small drop of rain here and there. On the way back home, the drops became more frequent; and during the final mile and a half it began drizzling. I saw some fantastic lightning, too. It wasn’t close; but all the same I was glad to get home. It was actually a pretty good ride. I did some force intervals, and at one point reached 24.9 mph! Not at all bad for me; and I didn’t get too wet. Riding to work, however, was a very different story. The Challenge I donned the poncho before I left home, in case it started to pour; and was that a good move!  I set out under a  light rain; and soon the sky opened up. There was frequent lightning that got closer and closer. One strike wasn’t even half a mile away! My timing was terrible; I rode through the worst of that T-storm. Once at work, there was the problem of drying out. Before I even went indoors, I got under the overhang at the front of the building; removed the poncho; and gave it a good shaking. I rolled it up and stuffed it into the plastic bag that I brought along for the purpose. I can’t hang it up indoors because it would drip. My poncho’s sleeves don’t do a good  job of covering my arms below the elbows. I had rolled up my blouse sleeves and worn arm warmers; and they got soaked. I had to wring them out and hang them up. Of course my cycling gloves got wet through, too. It was rather cool today; but not too cool for shorts. That’s something to be thankful for! Slacks get sopping wet from mid-thigh down in weather like this. Naturally my socks and shoes got drenched. I decided not to change into the dry socks and shoes I keep at my desk, because I was sure of having to go outside during the day. That’s what comes of not packing a sack lunch. More rain is expected over the next few days. If I’m to rise to the Love to Ride challenge, I’ll have to bite the bullet and ride, no matter how wet I get. They sure meant “challenge”!