This morning after a networking event I decided to drive to Orting to ride 15 miles again even though I could see ominous rainclouds overhead above Orting from quite a distance.  I figured, “Hey, it’s 66 degrees. I’ll be biking, working up a sweat…I won’t get cold even if I have to ride a little while in the rain.”

Yeah, right!

I got all the way to South Prairie from the park at Orting (7.5 miles to be exact) and then turned around immediately without resting. When I got about five miles from the park on the way back, the skies opened up–and by “opened up” I mean that what occurred was MONSOON-like!  Within seconds I was soaked to the bone. My feet were soaked, my head was soaked, my back and butt were soaked…and because I was wearing a white UnderArmour top, I suddenly looked like I had entered a Wet T-shirt contest. (T’was not a pretty sight, as portly as I am! Fortunately, on a day like this, the Orting Trail was all-but-deserted.)

I knew I had to keep pedaling like one possessed because you simply cannot imagine (unless it has happened to you) how quickly 66 degrees can become 44 or 46 degrees when you’re careening down a mountain path at 15+ miles per hour.

My glasses had huge raindrops on them. There wasn’t a dry shred of clothing on me. My bike looked like it was made of raindrops…

My brand new tennis shoes (purchased just this morning on my way to Orting), which were at least six inches above the ground on the bike pedals, were soaked through anyway, as if I’d waded in a swimming pool.

The tree-canopied parts of the trail didn’t offer the respite I hoped they would…or much change in temperature, either. I quickly learned how fast “dressed well enough” can become “oopsie!” during this 10 to 15 minute lesson. I knew I couldn’t STOP pedaling or I would have started to shiver and that isn’t too far from hypothermia, so I pedaled like mad until I got out from under the deluge and back into the benevolent rays of El Sol.

I’m still warming up, two hours later!

So let this be a lesson to you, too, if you ride bikes or do other stuff in potentially-inclement weather. Plan ahead. What you think might become a slight inconvenience can put you into a predicament.