Riding in the Rain

It should not have been a wash out. Forecast showed only a 40% chance of rain and the radar in the early morning hours looked fine, but mother nature likes to surprise us occasionally. We were not able to get back to the park quickly, so we rode out the second half of our ride in a persistent steady rain. For me the worst part of riding in the rain was having the sunblock on my face wash down into my eyes and my mouth; my eyes did not suffer too much, but the taste of the sunblock was awful! On the positive side, our ride on Sunday, Aug. 14th was exhilarating with big hills and beautiful scenery on many roads that we have rarely, if ever traversed. At times I felt like I was on a roller coaster and now that I am familiar with the roads, it would be even more fun to do this again and throw caution to the wind! I'm not sure everyone else liked the challenge of this route, but all survived, staying relatively close as a group.

I saw more animals than usual on this one; fox, red-tailed hawk, heron and lots of deer. Brian pointed out a barn full of cats staring out at us as we passed in the rain. It was tempting to join them. In Ionia, we split up as a group with Erica, Lydia and Gene preferring to get back to the cars and home to dry clothing, while Gary, Brian and myself elected to stop at the Sweet Solutions Cafe to warm up, dry off a bit and get a bite to eat. This was a nice place with lots of character and all the food was homemade and delicious, (check out the story behind the cafe with the link below). Gary had waffles that came with real maple syrup and Brian had an gourmet omelet that looked so delicious, I forgot why I ordered a muffin?

Stopping at the Cafe did not leave that break in the rain that we hoped for, so with a great deal of will power, we got back on the bikes to complete the last 5 or 6 miles back to the park. Still,
I can't wait to try this route and this cafe again soon.
http://sweetsolutions.littlefingerlakes.com