Riding in the rain

The morning started with rain and by the time my trike was loaded and ready to leave out we had a steady mist. Rather than let the weather deter me I continued with my plan. I took the trike with me when I dropped my son off for basketball practice and headed east from there. I had less than 2 hours to use and wanted to get as much riding time as possible.

Since I had not done this eastern section of the W&OD trail (Falls Church, VA to Arlington, VA) it seemed like a good time to check it out. The rain cleared after 30 minutes or so and it actually started to warm up. By the end of the ride I was soaked, more from the inside out than the outside in.

I learned that the trike doesn't handle well in the mud. One section of the trail was closed and the detour had turned the grass area to mud. On the return leg of my ride one of the power company workers had pity on me inching through the mud with my the tire spinning and pushed me on out. Interestingly, he apologized for my inconvenience and thanked me for my patience. I would have never seen that from an upright bike or a car!

Through Arlington, VA I saw parks that I never would have seen an other way. For several miles it was as if I was no longer in a suburb of Washinton, DC but somewhere in the Great Smoky Mountains. I will definitely be visiting this section of the trail again.

I returned to the school less than 5 minutes after the basketball practice ended. In all I only rode 18 miles but it was a great work out after being off the trike for so long. I'm glad I didn't let the early rain or promise of more to come to deter me.