akmal's bike park

akmal's bike park

Friday 23 September 2011

RTW 22.09.2011 - Wet Thursday

I was just about to get out of the gate when it started to rain this morning. Out comes the rainjacket from my bag, and off I went pedaling out to the office. Really, simple as that. No, not because it's the World Car-Free Day, but because that's how I chose to commute.

Rear blinker and front light switched on (set as strobe) for the added visibility, in case people on the road still can't see me while I'm wearing the fluorescent yellow Endura Gridlock.

The gloomy weather, and me wearing a jacket in the rain brought me back to the times in Old Trafford walking out from the house to the bus stop. And strolling along the Oxford Road from Simon Building to get to Manchester city center. My hands on the handlebar grips were a bit cold, as I was not wearing gloves (have been so, since using the thick Jammy grips). However, the body feels nice, like snugging underneath a wool blanket in a cold hotel room. I don't have a pair of waterproof pants, so I had to make do with getting soaked in rainwater from waist below.

It was quite a nice journey, as it was breezy and cool. The rain makes everything dramatically different, surely. Traffic is a bit congested more than usual, the wet road makes me riding with a bit more caution and the visibility is a bit low. However, to my surprise I was actually faster by 2 minutes than my average time.

Little after midway of the journey, a nagging problem had started. Water got into my right eye and it was stinging painful. Perhaps because of the minerals from the sweat residing on the helmet's inner pads trickling with the rainwater. I had to wink and use only the vision from my left eye for the rest of the journey, about 4km (12 minutes or so). Add that to the water beads holding on to my spectacle lenses. Luckily, alhamdulillah for the vision albeit reduced to about 40%.
Note to self: wear that buff when it rains.

I arrived safely, but wet. The good thing is that I was able to get to the office a bit earlier than usual and feeling good.


Thanks for coming over.
Have a good weekend, y'all.
See you at Setia Indah for the Millipede Green Ride on Sunday?

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