…water. Apparently. Yesterday we took the ferry from Milwaukee to Muskegon. Never got a drop of water upon my tires. Today? Grrr…today we road through the water. Water fell upon us. Water splashed up at us from the road. Water waited for us in puddles. The water, my dear reader, was out to get us today. And…I am afraid the water won.
We’ve ridden in the rain before. So much that we have terms for wet. For instance, when travelling with Cycle Italia, it isn’t raining until the dots on the pavement connect. Meh…no worries there today. The dots had long connected before we even left the hotel. So, what about PAC Tour wet? There, you haven’t gotten wet until your human’s socks are going squish, squish. Meh. That degree of wet we hit before we’d even gone a mile done the road.
Today, we coin, “Michigan Wet.” That is a wet that starts when the ride start and will continue into tomorrow. At least we’ll dry out a bit tonight in the hotel, but our pal NOAA says more rain tomorrow…yeehaw! (not).
To make the ride more “interesting” today was also a day on gravel. Blech. One stretch of gravel and my rear brake and saddle bag were coated in mud. Could have been worse and was….miles down the road the trail was shared with horses. Maybe now the humans will think about buying me some fenders, eh?
Seriously, seriously, messy and until afternoon, it was either gravel or a busy highway so we stuck to gravel. Thankfully, after lunch we managed to get some quiet roads. There was lot of road spray because the rain kicked up a notch (of course, why not….we’re wet…throw some more at us Mother Nature….grrrr), but, hey, by afternoon the road were pretty clean and that water helped to get rid of some mud (no, not a silver lining, but one could think that). When we pulled into the hotel, the humans cleaned us up a little better….well…better…but not great…clean enough to hang out in the hotel room. Hoping I get a little more TLC tomorrow with a chain lube, but…then….then…back into the rain, my friends….I fear this trend.
Travels With Edwina 