Inadequate clothing (or braving the deluge)

Recognize the sound? (not my pic)

It was that kind of weather again yesterday.  Heavy Rainfall Warning in the weather forecast. This YOUTUBE TUNE could have been written for this post ;-)

I was experiencing one of those depressingly bland moment of existence. It is darkish and pouring outside.  My hotel room is violently penetrated by noises of tires on wet roads, by honking, by car doors slamming, by other hotel doors slamming (this I can also feel in my behind through the shock-conducting wooden structure). Add to this the occasional but much too frequent emergency vehicle sirens and people shouting across large distances outside, and I am at the point where the the only thing on my mind is "There must be more to life" or "There must be some kind of way out of here" ;-)

Not my pic, but they look like my pants

So I grab my supposedly breathing-active and water-repellent jacket, the MEC outer pants with the same properties, leather shoes, the 4 Euro gloves that replaced my cycling gloves in Germany last December, and last but not least the bicycle.  Crazy you think? Not really; it's not freezing and the thing falling from the sky is really just WATER, so what's the worst that could happen?

Of course, the worst happens quickly.  I start noticing the inadequacies of my clothing.  Somewhere on Lions Gate Bridge I notice that the Zipper of my left over-pants leg is leaking. Somewhere downtown I notice that if I make my left hand shake hands with my right hand (both gloved), small waterfalls will be squeezed out of the gloves. Somewhere around 41 and Knight, I notice that with every pedal stroke of either foot, small quantities of water are emitted at the top of the respective shoe.  So why am I grinning passing cars on 49th Avenue that can't match my speed of 32 km/h with all the general traffic and lights they have to stop at?

not my pic but looks like my jacket 

When I reach the house of a friend of mine around Kingsway and Boundary, I am relieved that she has a working drier in her appartement into which I toss my gloves, jacket, and over-pants.  When she asks me why I am in such a good mood, I just say "Biking endorphins".  It's so much nicer to have one's Lithium in one's bike battery instead of having to have it by way of prescribed medication ;-)

One hour later, after having feasted on Tea and cookies (YUM), and having donned a dried jacket and dry gloves, I notice that the rain has subsided a bit and consequently decide not to take the SkyTrain back.  It's obvious how that's going to end, isn't it.  When I reach downtown, I am right in the middle of a monsoon again and my gloves and shoes are drenched again when I reach my motel room.

Still, my earlier moodiness is gone and I feel great about having travelled 42 kms without burning any oil ;-)  Points of weakness in my clothing have been exposed.  Two days later my shoes have dried, but not only has the sole worn through by frequent use, being drenched water has also caused them to emit an unpleasant odour (and I'm not a person prone to smelly feet or shoes!), so they go on the landfill (not even worth putting beside the dumpster for someone else to re-use). I am also again in the possession of some Gore-tex cycling gloves (Thanks Steed Cycles), which will hopefully be able to resist any future downpours ;-)

So there, got some exercise, got some endorphins, visited friends, avoided the worst of traffic, and didn't even have to give anything to the big bad oil companies !