Wet riders in a drought

 The car needs a new windshield. I came out of work on Friday to find a long, sinuous crack that rose from the lower right edge, snaked across toward the middle, and turned upward. It had not been visible when I drove to work that morning.

Assuming I couldn't get it fixed on the weekend, I called first thing on Monday to make an appointment for Wednesday at the glass place I pass every day on the way to work. I've had to do this with previous cars. I leave the vehicle and continue by bike.

As of Monday, the forecast for Wednesday was for a mild day, partly sunny in the morning, with a chance of sprinkles encroaching on the time I would be riding back out to the glass place to get the car on my way home. As of today, that forecast has become darker and wetter. The amount won't do anything to replenish depleted ground water, but it could be more than enough to saturate a rider.

There have been many days like this through the late winter and early spring. At least one has hit every week on the days when I have tried to accumulate base miles before dragging my tired ass out on the full commute. If you get one brief downpour that yields a scant quarter-inch of rain, it's only a problem if it coincides with your ride time. Or maybe it's one of those gray days of constant heavy mist verging on drizzle. Nature is suffering, wells are failing, the ground less than an inch down is still parched powder, but you, the rider, are covered with wet grit.

The Wednesday ride, now firmly scheduled, will mark my first arrival by bike at work since last October. After that I was planning to try the full route on Friday, with a nicer forecast than Wednesday's. Only now it isn't. The entire seven-day forecast has filled in with showers on most days. Saturday still just says "mostly cloudy," but that can develop into more showers, considering what's lining up for Sunday. And next Monday says partly sunny, but reverts to temperatures more like March.

Before I felt remotely ready to send a well-worn body nearly 70 years old onto a hilly, 30-mile commitment, we had some beautiful days. Maybe we'll have more. Last year, May and June turned quite wet before the rain basically snapped off with the arrival of July. And beautiful riding days don't alleviate the drought. We need some perfectly timed overnight saturating rains followed by sunny days with light breezes that turn into tailwinds.