7rider

When the weather is nice, the roads here are full of cyclists. But if the weather turns even mildly inclement, it scares most of the cyclists off the road. This afternoon, it started drizzling, and I whined a little since I was planning a ride right after work, and I didn't believe it was raining again after the crazy wet winter we just had. I decided to go anyways, since the weather didn't look like it would turn into a raging storm. I just finished one of the best rides I've ever had since the cloudy skies and rain kept me cool, and I could relax with the uncrowded bike lanes. Despite the perfect temperature for riding, the rain seemed to keep a lot of roadies off their bikes.

On the way back down Pagemill road toward a right-hand turn on Arastradero, I saw the one thing that scares me the most when I ride on rainy days. A red BMW 7-series had lost control on the steep downhill on Arastradero right before it meets Pagemill, and its front end was crushed with a deployed airbag on the driver's side. It appeared the ambulance had already taken away the driver, and two police cars were parked on either side of the car with the policemen directing traffic. I have seen so many rainy day auto accidents here in Norcal since a lot of drivers here believe they shouldn't slow down at all on downhills or turns when it's wet. My thoughts are that if I lay it down when it's wet, that's bad, but if a car hits me because the driver's lost control, that's really bad.

As I finished my ride, the sun broke threw the clouds. In a way, it was validation of my belief that it's okay to go out on a road ride even if the weather isn't perfect.