Bike Commuting in the Rain

What is it like to ride in a torrential downpour of rain?

It feels like soggy feet when you step in a creek, and like drowning a little every time you breathe in your nose.

It's a whole lot of wondering if your hands can squeeze the brakes any tighter, and having to change into your contacts because your glasses have become blinded by raindrops.

Then it feels being poked in the eyes by droplets of rain, skidding a little in some places, and getting drenched by puddles in others.

It's like waterlogging a book you borrowed from the library, finding out your backpack isn't as waterproof as you thought.

But you know what it's really like?

It's taking a rain bath in one of the first heavy downpours of the season, and tasting fresh rain on your tongue.

Getting a chance to experience rain--really experience it--and feeling it kiss your face and drip drop into your boots.

It's finding that a street near your home is flooded after accidentally riding into the biggest puddle you've ever seen.

It's laughing as you accidentally zoom through another puddle, splashing rain up onto your legs.

It's like wanting to be a kid again and jump in those puddles with friends, but being an adult during a drought and realizing that we need to seriously find a way to capture some of this rainfall while we can.

Riding in a torrential downpour, you ask? Well for me, it's like making up a poem on the ride home, and being grateful for warmth when I walk in the door.