Queen Anne and Back

As I prepare for the Ragbrai, I'm going to try to ride on some days that are iffy, weather-wise. Last Friday, rain seemed imminent--the air was damp,the sky cloudy, the distant sky, towards Queen Anne, an ominous steel-grey. I was to meet a friend for tea, and I wanted to ride. So I started out, wondering, Is this a good idea? It turned out to be a beautiful day for a ride. The wind blew gently, so the ride included a bonus of yellow leaves falling from the trees, with the grey choppiness of Lake Washington in the background. A few sprinkles fell as I drank my oolong, but otherwise the afternoon was dry and blustery. The event of that ride occurred when, as I stopped near UW to more closely read a sign headed "Ride in the Rain", a bicyclist ran into me from behind! He said his brakes hadn't worked. (I say to you, although I didn't say to him, that if he ran into me, he was following too closely. I had NOT stopped suddenly. Recently, I saw a bicycle recently with a bumper sticker that read something like, "Leave three feet of space. Threefeetofspace.org", or something like that). At any rate, he caught up with me a bit later and said that his brakes had gotten clogged with leaves and dirt. Well, we were both OK, so there was no harm done. I need to ride more, when it just looks like rain. The day's ride total, including some errands in the morning, was 24 miles.