It had been raining off and on since mid-morning so I checked the Chicago area Doppler radar to see if I was in store for a wet ride. I was due to leave work and it appeared that a nice rain shower was moving in from just west of the city. Oh well! At least I'm better prepared than I was the last times I was caught in the rain. In my pannier I now carry an LL Bean Stowaway Gortex rain jacket. It bundles up into a nice pouch for easy storage. It can jet kind of hot but the dual zipper helps me ventilate.
The Lakefront Trail was relatively deserted. It was still pretty wet in places but for the most part I was dry. Taking a few extra days off helped my legs get back to full strength again. So I felt pretty strong on my ride.
At Greenwood and Hinman in Evanston it started to rain hard enough for me to pull out my rain jacket. Fortunately it didn't get too hot. It was actually a pretty comfortable ride. After turning west on Isabella, my pedalling seemed to get tougher. After I crossed the L tracks I realized my front tire was low. I stopped and re-inflated it to see if that would be enough to get me home. I immediately heard a loud hissing and saw tiny bubbles throughout my sidewalls. The leak wouldn't get me more than a block. So I took out my spare tube and using the tire levers in my Topeak Alien multi-tool I repaired my tire and was back on the road in ten minutes.
The skies totally opened up at Tower and Green Bay in Winnetka. Fortunately I wasn't too far from home. I would still have been OK except for my soggy feet. I wish there was a quicker solution to preventing wet feet besides my Performance Neoprene booties. They work well, but by the time I'd be able to wrestle them on in a rainstorm I'd be soaked completely. I guess life really sucks sometimes.
Distance Traveled: 24.3 miles
Distance to date: 442.9 miles
Price of gas: $2.99
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