It’s raining…again…

I’m in my office working at my incredibly stimulating and important corporate finance position (peep the sarcasm) on the 24^th floor of a building not to be named. I’m in a suit and tie.
How did I get here? I was so close to being a professional skateboarder and now, here I sit, talking to people on the phone and repeating things that I heard before from Willie Loman and the cast of Glengarry Glen Ross…fear and loathing in the corporate world. I look out the window and see the raindrops stream down the glass. The distorted and murky reflection is the most accurate representation of me. I’m waxing nostalgic and getting melancholy, and there is only one way too reverse this trip to the doldrums. Well two ways, but a trip to Mexico for a weekend of tequila and street food is out of the question. So a bike ride it is!

I think that we all have parts of us that we aren’t particularly crazy about. Mine is my job (if you didn’t guess). I also think it doesn’t really matter as long as we get to emphasize and indulge the parts we do like. I mean, your job for example…it does not define you/us/me. Besides, I really don’t want to get into it. This is not the time for the penning of some big introspective story, man. I just want to ride my bike. But it’s raining.
Rain used to be a problem for me. It meant that I wasn’t riding that day or that I was riding, but it would be on the trainer, in my basement. Sure I get to listen to Pink Floyd and watch race highlights, but there is nothing worse than putting on your bibs just to sit on a stationary bike in the basement.
Enter the ‘cross bike.
I bought mine a while ago, a sleek slightly above entry model from my LBS. My CX bike is aluminum with a carbon fork and mechanical disc brakes, and it’s perfect. It’s perfect because it doesn’t mind the rain. It’s also perfect because I can break almost anything on it and replace it for under $100 (sometimes I have to get creative, but ya know I can do that). Since I got her I never feel like I can’t/shouldn’t ride in the rain. In fact, I kind of look forward to it. In the fall when race season is in full swing there will be rainy days. We kind of love racing in the rain, don’t we? I know I do. Besides, there is nothing better than watching a gaggle of super-fit roadies wash out because they don’t know how to handle bikes in the mud. Man, I live to beat those dudes. It feels sooooooo good.
It’s still raining, and I’m kind of glad it is.