D'oh! When did I leave, like a minute* before your post? That just made a lot* of sense. The sky was socked in, and I did get online, but it was just a big blob of yellow. Nothing violent. But I have* a weather radio (got one when I was in Kansas close to the Greensburg tornado) and it is small enough to take.

Anyway, did my 12, and the first drops fell on me on the way back, a block from home. And I didn't have to wear my sunglasses for the first time in about a month. And it was the best temperature I'd ever ridden in.

I had two very interesting experiences on my ride:

The first is that, because it was pretty dark and all the tourists were driving home, I thought I'd try out my new hub generated light and my flashie on the back. I have never* had such courteous car behavior by every* car I encountered. They went slow, made eye contact, and went completely in the other lane to pass me. I don't know if they simply saw me better, or if they subconsciously thought, "Hey, she made the effort to put the lights on the bike, she must really not want to get hit." I'm going to put them on all the time... there's no drag with the hub generator.

The second thing is I met 2 guys biking coming the other way. They were out for an early morning jaunt, and they greeted me with big waves. As I passed, one of them said, "Enjoy the lake!"

Well, I thought about this for a while, because it was kind of an unusual thing to say. 90% of the people here are tourists, but we don't usually make a point of saying, "enjoy our village" unless you're selling them minnows. Then I realized what I looked like. I had the lights, the helmet, the pack on the back mounded with a sweatshirt and a rainjacket, my single earbud out of my ear. And I looked down at the speedometer, and I was going 15 mph and was in the drops.

I looked like a real biker! They thought I was going around the lake (67 miles) and packed for bear!

How's that* for cool?