The rain we experienced last Friday had me reminiscing a ride I took last November.  Four days in a row I rode the “dam loop“.  I was testing to see how my body would react to extended riding and to try between ride recovery techniques (learned some important lessons – but that is another story). 

It rained on the last ride.  Not just a little.  I’m talking standing-water-in-the-streets-rain.  I got soaked.  But it was a good ride.  Just past the 40 mile point of the ride I got hit by a particularly heavy shower.  I could barely see, my feet were hitting standing water on the downstroke of the pedal and I was carrying a lot of extra weight in my clothing.  Just then Stevie Ray Vaughn wailed “it’s flooding down in Texas” on my Shuffle.  I started laughing.  Out loud.  I’m convinced the motorists around me were going to call the cops to have me committed.  The very next song, Bob Marley and the Whalers told me that “every little thing gonna be alright.”  As I pulled on my street near the end of the ride–cold, sore, tired–Sheryl Crow began to sing “Home.” 

I ride with my iPod a lot.  Risky, but worth the stimulus.  It’s amazing what an eclectic mix of music can do for you.  Sometimes I wonder if there is some intelligence behind the particular sequences of songs.  The rational side of me scoffs.  The other side…