It was a gloomy ride today. The forecast said, light rain at 7 am; and in fact there was a bit of a drizzle. But I rode, anyway. I knew that, if I waited to \”see whether it would stop\”, I might not get to ride; and I\’m trying not to become a fair weather cyclist.

That drizzle persisted for most of my ride; and I\’m glad it didn\’t turn into a heavy rain. After two hours or so, the sun came out for a bit; but it was still raining. The wind was about 7 mph while I was riding back home; and it was a headwind, as usual.

Today I cut my mileage a little, to 40.40 miles. Yesterday I got a double dose, you might say; so I decided I wouldn\’t push too hard on this ride. Next Sunday maybe I can bump it up to 45 miles or so.

Of course, after this morning\’s jaunt, my poor road bike is all mucky. That\’s the problem when I ride while the ground is wet; but there isn\’t much falling out of the sky. All that dirt and grit gets splashed up; but there isn\’t enough rain to wash it off the bike.

Here\’s my question: is it better to wash that dirt off as soon as I\’m off the bike; or is it really OK to let it dry, so that I can brush it off? It\’s on the chilly side to be outdoors with a hose!

I\’m glad I rode when I did. It\’s still gloomy gray, and I have other things I need to do; such as make squashed sauce, and wrap Xmas gifts.

It looks like we won\’t get any more rain for a while, and I like that. It\’s good for riding.