Rainy or wet road days suck.

I've said this many times before. Rainy days or wet roads days suck! I have to be constantly reminded why I hate riding on wet roads. Luckily for me yesterday and today I didn't ride because of other family commitments.

Here are good reasons why not to ride when it's wet:

1. I hate cleaning the bike afterwards. You have to take the seat post out to drain the water which has collected in the seat tube/downtube and bottom bracket area. You have to take out the stem from the headset and drain that too. If you don't you will find out that you will have nasty grime inside the tubes/headset. One big negative on removing everything is that you have to put it back at the same location as before otherwise you risk screwing your positioning. I did that a couple of weeks ago and my body feels like it's out of shape as my seat position was too high, so I used muscles I wasn't used to using. Bad move! Back on to cleaning. I have to break my chain and soak the chain in a cleaning solution, I also have to take apart the cassette and soak those too. Water also gets into the rims of my clincher wheels, so I have to unseat the tire and dry the innards of the wheels and tires.
   Other cleaning stuff...wipe down all parts on the bike and clean the rear derailleurs pulleys. All of this takes time an I typically have to do it in the basement. Of course I get the usual complaints from my wife about bringing the bike inside of the house and the smells of the cleaners.
   
2. Riding in the rain is dangerous. I've crashed a couple of times in the rain on training rides typically because I break too hard and the front wheel slides out on a turn. I'm usually going too fast.
3. On cold days... it just makes it feel so much colder and makes you feel miserable.
   
4. There's nothing like the stink of waterlogged shoes which don't dry quickly enough.
   
5. Training on these days, you just don't get the same workout as the effort usually is not as high.
   
6. Road grit gets splashed on you from the rider in front. I hate getting that gritty feeling in your teeth. Even worse... if you wear contacts like I do, that grit can really irritate your eyes and make you feel like you've put sand in your eyes.

Of course if you don't ride on those days, you lose a day of riding, unless you have a trainer or rollers or have a gym to do spinning workouts.

See you out there on a dry day! I feel a bit bloated from the last couple of days of heavy partying and no riding.

Next topic: Trying to keep riding and racing inexpensive.