I managed 35 miles in humid conditions. Cliff and Debbie joined up to ride up Anatone. I met them as they were crossing Southway. I promised them headwinds up Tammany. I had just come down at 26 mph.

Sunday's dual 1 pm start came with warmth through the clouds, even some sunshine and a few drops of rain.

At Sean's in the Orchard Carol, Kristen, Sean and I started out for Tom Beall Road and the rollers on Misner Road.

At the boat launch Lance lead Janet, Linda, and Debbie in a search for Mike and Nicky who were to have met the group on Lindsay Creek, or was that Tammany? Oops! Yep, that was Tammany. Fortunately the two groups finally did meet as Mike and Nicky began climbing Lindsay creek. The others turned around and rode up again.

Kristen would have rather been running she said but no one would run with her. We opted for Middle Tom Beall as a way to shorten the distance. Kristen began to ask "And you do this for fun?" She and Carol turned around and headed home. Turns out that was a good plan.

Sean and I played on the Misner Road rollers and decided to check out the flood damage on Garden Gulch. Lots of folks out doing clean up. Debris has washed up against fence posts and the lower wire. The road has mud in places but it isn't too bad. I think a roadie could still ride this though there are a few stretches that are just gravel on hard pan.

Riding west on Garden Gulch afforded us a fine view of heavy black clouds over Lewiston. Because of the grade, you can't tell how far away the clouds are nor much about direction. I thought they looked like they'd be either north or south of us.

Sometimes a black cloud is an omen. Sometimes it is just a black cloud. This one has been looking for me. All those rides when I saw rain on one side or the other of the valley but rode in sunshine myself, finally caught up with me.

Sean and I stopped at the grocery to replenish fluids. We didn't get much of a chance to sweat them out though. Half way up the rain began to fall. Just a drop or two at first. We'd had that all afternoon. No need for jackets yet, we thought. When we made the sharp right turn and begin sidehilling to the north, we met a wind suddenly full of rain, large lazy drops, almost hail but too warm for that.

There was nothing to do but keep climbing. Sean offered me a jacket. Sean offered to call Carol. But neither of us really wanted to stop long enough to either of those things. They'd have been pointless in any case. This was not a shower. Cataclysm, cataract, deluge, flood tide, inundation, overflow, spate, torrent: these might come close to describing it. For a moment it felt exactly as if I strayed under the eaves of a house during a heavy rainstorm. All the rain in the sky seemed funneld right on my right shoulder.

Carol did mount a rescue mission, but by the time she found us we were so wet we opted to just head on back. We weren't cold. In fact, I think we enjoyed having been caught in the rain. Now thunder and lightning, that would have been something. This was just water.

Did we get wet? Yes.