Cycling in the rain

Did your mother ever tell you not to play in the rain?
Why? you asked.
 Because you get sick! That's why.

It's been raining these few days, especially in the evenings.
I looked at the sky, and it promised rain. Cloudy. Overcast. Just a matter of time.

I decided maybe I could beat the rain.
I put on my super nice t-shirt (the red one which doesn't make me smell from sweating) and my padded pants, gloves, sleeves, shoes, socks and helmet of course. With splash of suntan lotion too. Actually, SPF.

I set out, heading for Penaga. I made good time. Averaging 2 and half minutes per kilometre.

When I reached the paddy fields after Penaga, I looked towards Kuala Muda (north-west) and saw the dark clouds pushing in. And then the droplets started fall to confirm my prognosis.

I decided it was time to turn back. After less than 30 minutes riding. About 10 km of pedaling.

I turned on to the tarred road and headed back. Less than 5 minutes later I was drenched. It poured buckets down on me. I considered hiding at a bus stop. There were also quite a few shelters near houses and stalls.

Nah, I decided to keep pedaling.

Did I go crazy?

Well I figured I was only about half an hour from home. So, I won't be soaked for more than that short period. I am fit enough. If I keep pedaling fast I would keep my body warm and won't catch a chill.

I turned on my flashing front LED light and pushed the pedals. Along the way I passed two kids happily cycling the rain. Where's their mummies?

Road holding for the MTB was good. The hazard comes when passing cars make a big splash from the pools of water on the road. Mostly, the passing cars were considerate and didn't splash me too much.

After about 20 minutes of continuous downpour, it eased abit.

It was then I realised there's another benefit to the super shirt and pants. They didn't absorb the rain. The water just drained out so I didn't feel I was wearing clothes soaked heavy with rain. Or sticking to my body.

Ah, but the shoes and socks were a different story. They were really soaking wet. Hhmm, need same type of shoes and socks like my shirt and pants. Microfibre I presume.

Riding in heavy rain wasn't a big problem except my glasses get clouded with the water. Also the eyes sting from the rain pouring down. I wondered if it had anything to do with the chemicals the rain absorbed from the atmosphere? You don't feel the sting under your shower do you? Oh, we probably close our eyes under the shower but you can't do that riding your bike on the road.

Perhaps I should scout for a thin raincoat?

So far, I don't feel any chills coming. No sneezing either, though I had to blow my nose during the ride.

It was quite fun, but not something you should do on a regular basis.

For the record, I covered 21.46 km in a little over 58 minutes. Average speed 22 kph, top speed 28.8 kph. And I beat my previous record for 20 km by 1 min 39 seconds! (20 km in 52 min 26 sec). That is according to the GPS tracker on Endomondo.

On the speedometer attached to the bike, it is 57:49 minutes total riding time; average speed 22.6 kph; max speed 28.4; distance 21.87 km. So that quite match. This is called independent verification?

postscript the morning after : I'm perfectly fine.

pss - 10/10/2012 : I got caught in the rain again a few days ago and figured out that the sting in my eye is actually from the salt of my sweat. So when the rain water falls down over my head, it washes the salt into my eyes.