While I do enjoy the occasional pina colada...

I maintain a very strict anti-gettin' caught in the rain policy, which was completely broken this morning as I biked the lakefront one last time before my big bike ride this weekend. So, as I headed out this morning, admittedly later than I originally planned to head out, I looked at the ominous clouds moving in from the west and thought to myself "I can get in at least 20 before it starts to rain."

I have admittedly made a lot of mistakes in my life, and I am usually among the first to admit that I made them- sleeping with the wrong person, quitting the wrong job, thinking I remember all the words to She Bop, that kind of thing. This morning, I was way, way off, as you can tell by the radar picture above.

It really got bad after I passed North Avenue- and I still had 5 miles to go before I got home at that point. Not the best of places to be and not the best conditions to be in. When I did finally get home, the lightning was striking and I was thinking about the idiots I saw huddling under trees and about how wet I was and about how dry I wanted to be.

I opened my saddle bag to get my keys when I discovered an unfortunate fact about my saddle bag- it isn't waterproof. Either that, or the zipper let in a shitload of water. I quickly removed the contents while still on my front porch and did a quick inventory to see what, if anything, was ruined, and what could be salvaged, which seems like everything will make it, save for the bike tube box I had in there- cardboard doesn't last long when wet, after all:
The Powerbars and Accel Gels should be ok, the gloves will eventually dry out. The CO2 cartridges will be fine. My knee brace will hopefully dry out by tomorrow. The bike shorts and jersey will need to be washed, but are ok. My cellphone, wallet and Hexus tool should be ok in a bit. My saddle bag? Believe it or not, I poured about a quarter cup of water out of it after emptying it. Scary. My cat, who snuck into the picture, is perfectly fine- she's always curious when I come in soaking wet, that's all.

So, I'm off for a nice warm shower to wash off all the grime and rain and what's left of my suntan lotion from me. Joy of joys, no?