on having a wet butt

So, my training schedule has been flipped around.  Instead of doing my very long ride/run on Saturday and my long run on Sunday, I'm doing the reverse.  Which means that I was home, showered, foam rolled and second breakfast'd by 9:00am on Saturday morning.  Weird!  Saturday morning was quite nice for a run, and I found it actually fairly easy to stay in Z2 for the duration of the run, despite all the "I had to run so slowly I was going backwards" horror stories I've heard about starting HR training. 


Later in the afternoon, I got an email from my coach suggesting that I bag the Skyline Drive ride I had been planning due to a really bad weather forecast.  Weather?  Rain?  Wha?  After we talked, it was decided that I'd either do the familiar 60-mile route from my house (if weather is really bad) or go down to Quantico and ride.  I'd heard about other cyclists riding down there but had never done it myself.  When I woke up Sunday morning, it was pouring.  I checked out the hourly weather forecast and it looked like it was going to pour all day, except for a small window around 8am.  So Beth and I packed up our stuff and headed down.  We were about halfway down when it went from "drizzly" to "hardcore pouring."  Enter: a bad case of the grumblies.

This is the last time I would be smiling for at least 4 hours.

By the time we parked and unpacked, it was only lightly drizzling again but the roads were so wet that we were soaked about 5 minutes into the ride.  I'm pretty cranky on a normal day, but add in a still-healing saddle sore and a soaked chamois and it skyrockets.  The course was a bit boring, but we managed 1:45 at a decent pace and then stopped at the car for nutrition.  As we pulled away from the car, it's started to lightly rain.


We rolled down the road about a mile to the fire station to search for hot firemen fill up our water bottles. It was still raining as we headed out, but about 2 miles into the loop, the sky cracked open.  It's been a long time since I've ridden in a downpour like that, but it was awful.  The rain hurt against my skin and I could only manage to go about 14mph since I was worried about skidding out in a puddle, on loose gravel, or just on a slick road.  When we passed by the car again about 7 miles later, I was done.  I couldn't stand to be soaked and miserable for one more second.  I wiped off my bike, packed the car, changed into my running clothes and headed out.  It rained just long enough to completely soak my running clothes and then trailed off.  By the time I got back to the car, the sun was out and the roads were steaming.  


We changed our clothes (that's at least three instances of public nudity, in case you're keeping track) and headed home.  I took a long nap and woke up to....bright and blue sunny skies.  RUDE.  


How was your weekend?  Did you plan around the weather only to end up soaked and crabby anyway like me?