cheating the weather

it rained this morning.
it rained all morning.
it kept raining even after morning stopped and afternoon began.
but then it stopped, and the ground started to dry. pavement showed lighter spots where the rainwater had evaporated, and the gutters no longer ran.
weak sunlight even filtered its way down to my little spot of earth, and my thoughts turned to riding my bike.
by 3:15 I was filling water bottles, watching sunlight pierce through my huge old tree's copious leaves, deciding that it was safe to ride.
I packed a light rain jacket, and headed up to wasatch drive with "south" as my destination.

riding wasatch is a good medium effort ride for me. there are plentiful ups and downs, slight rises and more aggressive grades, few enough stop lights and decent enough shoulders to make the ride as tough as I want it to be. no 4-mile hills to climb, but enough up and down to make me work.
the sun was shining through a small amount of clouds here by my house, but the clouds farther south were thick and dark. as I rode up to wasatch I decided I would just keep riding south as long as I had sunlight around me. at that point, it looked like I might make it as far as the mouth of Big Cottonwood.
but somehow, that sun kept shining on me, moving with me as I rode south. I passed the entrance to Big Cottonwood, and soon the entrance to Little Cottonwood. that sun stayed with me, and didn't give up until I reached draper, at which point it surrendered to the layer of clouds that hung over that part of town.
I turned, and was in for a surprise: the city from which I had just ridden was now covered by thick clouds, and streaks of rain showering from cloud to ground were visible. where had that sunlight gone? had it just moved with me, breaking only the clouds around my little space?

a few sprinkles floated down on me as I started my journey back north, but stopped after a mile or so. I watched those heavy rainclouds sit on mount olympus and stretch down to the freeway, the sky deep blue and full. I shook my head and chastised myself, thinking it was going to be a wet ride those last 10 miles or so.
oh well. at least I had a jacket, all balled up in my pack.
and then the sun was with me again, growing from weak to strong, and as I neared mount olympus the clouds had magically pulled back and the pavement was deep black with moisture. I rode that wet road all the way home, the sun once again hovering above me.
when I reached my house I saw happy wet grass, and watched small drops of remaining moisture gather on leaves and drip occasionally down to earth.
I had missed the entire downpour, which must have been a healthy one from the stories told by gutters and drain pipes and droplets on my leaves.

I'd like to credit my deep intuition for choosing such a perfect path today,
so I think I will.