Day One.

Auspicious?

Seems to fit.

First day of the bike to work challenge, and of course, "challenge" became the operative word.

Rain. Off and on. But rain. Seems early for rain. But it was full on.

Headwind. I mean serious headwind. Rare does the morning have an up valley wind like this.

Combine the two? Plus a 4:20 AM departure, so completely in the heart of darkness.

But why complain. I love biking to Salem, so this is part of the challenge.

Because I am bushed, I won't go on. But suffice it to say my bike light also died on me. Here is my plug for light redundancy. Anyhow, I managed to find a bus heading south so was at work by 6:40. And then biked home (which is ~ 58 miles).

So a long first day, but not quite as long as usual (78 miles vs. 108). Maybe even an easy day, if you think of it that way.

I also realize that when you start the month with such nasty conditions, every other day after will probably be a joy by comparison.

Did see a major car crash just before returning home. Vehicle took out a power pole. Power pole won. And I had a bit of road construction (pipe, actually) just south of Woodburn.

The stop/slow fellow asked me, "can you move at the speed of traffic?" I smiled, and said, "depends, but I can if you need me to." So he gave me a head start. Nearly burned up all my leg strength Mark Cavendish-style just to see if I could keep them at bay. Turns out he let them off a lot after me, so I was well past the danger when they came by. Still, had a feeling of pride as I crossed the invisible finish line, no cars in sight.

Well, so it begins.

Another day in paradise.