She teased me this morning until I was almost there, and then finally, when there was just a little bit left to go, she let me have it.

I woke to damp pavement and the tiniest spritzing of rain, which actually stung on my arms and face due to a brutal headwind from the south. I made it all the way to College and Lamar before she finally sent the rain down with everything she had. I was soaked in less than a 10th of a mile.

What was intended to be a recovery ride after last nights hammerfest on the long way home, turned into a soggy fight just to keep going forward against the wind.

It was the same wind I had last night, but it was playing on my team then. It hindered me a bit as I rode east or west, but when I turned north, it was a boon I simply couldn’t ignore. Even going up the hills between 83rd and 67th on Lackman were uncharacteristically fast. Not that it was my phenomenal athleticism, or any other extraordinary trait on my part, but I easily overtook the biker on the sidewalk as she fought the same hill I was cruising. She was huffing and puffing in a high gear up the hill from 79th to Midland Dr., and in a much lower gear I passed her easily with enough breath to say “Good day!”

However, by the time I got to 67th I was hella winded. The leg buster between 79th and 67th never fails to deliver. I turned east, and the crosswind laughed mockingly at me as it tried to throw me sideways. It was a blessing in disguise, however, and was enough to blow the sweat off my forehead and out of my eyes. They’d been burning since 79th. I really need a bandanna or something.

Aside from the huffing and puffing girl on Lackman, I saw plenty of other people on bikes out. The vast majority of them were on sidewalks, so there wasn’t much opportunity for interaction. Except for one. Only the second time since I started commuting by bike, someone pulled out in front of me without looking. This time, however, it was a teenage boy on a Walmart Mountain bike. He was on the sidewalk, and without even looking, darted out right in front of me. I didn’t have to brake or anything, but I did say something along the lines of “Easy there, big guy, watch where you’re going… I could have been a car.” I wasn’t annoyed, but I wasn’t kidding either. What a mess of tangled spokes and cogs we would have made.

That was yesterday. This morning I was a lone two wheeler on the roads. And right now, as I write, the sun is blazing, burning off the damp with wisps of smoke-like steam off the pavement. Mother nature had her way with me, and is having her cigarette now.

Gotta love Midwest weather.