pretending

yesterday I pretended I was in ireland.
I knew it was wet out there, I knew it would continue to send moisture down, and I rode my bike anyway.
we're spoiled with sunshine and dry air, dry pavement, so many days with temperatures in the 40's and above.
many cyclists around the world don't have it this nice.
so yesterday I manned-up, pulled on long tights, slipped on a light rain jacket, and headed up the hill anyway.

one nice thing is that I didn't have to share the bike lanes with anybody else.
and it was refreshingly moist: my skin loved it.
and it helped me empathize with irish cyclists.

it rains, on average, 151-225 days a year in ireland, depending if you're on the drier east side, or the wetter west.
may and june are the sunniest months, when they average 5-6.5 hours of sunlight in a day.
irish skies are completely cloudy approximately half the time.

so yesterday, here, at 53 degrees and wet, was an awful lot like ireland is, frequently.

I looked for clovers, I tried to sing all the irish songs I know (basically, none), I kept my eye peeled for leprechauns, I filled my lungs with moist air and gave thanks that it's possible to ride a bike in the rain.
then I came home, checked the weather, and gave even greater thanks for the next week's local forecast:
sunny, warm, dry, absolute perfect riding weather.
guess I won't have to pretend I'm somewhere else next time I ride.