The night ride was new for me tonight. We went North on the trail and then the road back. The weather report was for just 20% chance of rain so I went with my purple jacket (not waterproof) and my red vest (also not waterproof). I also did not take my helmet cover. Yeah, that was a mistake. It started raining shortly after I left my house, but I thought, "It's okay, it's not raining very hard".
Six of us met at the trailhead. We headed back up to the trail. We cut over to the I-5 trail, then crossed Pacific at the light. We got back to the Chehalis Western Trail and went over I-5 and Martin Way on the bridges. The rain was, well, starting to come down quite a bit heavier and...the wind was blowing. Nice!
At the end of the trail at Woodard Bay, we decided to do the medium length route back--due to the wonderful weather. So we went down Woodard Bay to Libby and on out to 81st. There is a steep hill up 81st to Zangle. It's kind of funny, but the hill didn't seem as steep in the dark as it does in the daylight. Which is not to say I wasn't wheezing like a donkey at the top of the hill. I just wasn't completely dropped by the others.
We got to Boston Harbor Rd. and rode that back to Gull Harbor, then 26th. At South Bay, Jean and I went left and headed back to the trail. The guys went right and headed back to the start.
Jean and I rode to the bridge over Martin Way. There, Jean turned back and headed for her home and I continued on the trail. At this point the rain had tapered off...for awhile. By the time I got home, I'd been riding in the rain again for the last 15 minutes or so. I was well-soaked to the bone, but not cold, so that's good.
The one piece of waterproof clothing I had on was my neon yellow gloves. Waterproof gloves are not so waterproof when the water is just running in through the top. They do, however, keep the water in the gloves quite well! Both my hands and feet were squishy with water, and far more wrinkled than 51 year old hands and feet should be!
Total miles were just 31. With the 11 miles I did earlier today, I didn't quite get to 51 miles, but it was still a good day of riding!
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