Lies! Damn lies!

What a bunch of bloody liars those weather forecasters are! Every day, I check seven weather forecasts and each and every one of the buggers claimed today was to be sunny with a very remote possibility of extremely light rain. Fool that I am, I believed this and decided to head out for an Antrim Glens based cycle* today (as you can see from my plans, below). About six miles into my cycle, it started drizzling on me. 'Oh' I thought 'That'll be the tiny bit of drizzle which was possible'. Twat! I should have nipped off to cover immediately as it started urinating down on me within the next minute.

I did get to cover, waited for a while and the rain didn't seem to let up so I tried to cadge a lift home. I was unsuccessful doing so and that ended up being a blessing as the rain stopped whilst I was on the phone. After that, I decided to change my planned route (there were very unpleasant looking clouds in the direction I had proposed going) and keep going for a little run. I mean, I was going to have to clean my bike and my clothes anyway so why not make it at least close to being worthwhile?

Despite the forecasts, I spent the rest of my cycle having to avoid a number of big greyish black clouds. I was able to do this pretty well (ie. luckily) and kept to a kind of tunnel of dryness, only getting a little light rain on me. This is kind of heading towards the main point in my post today. I'm normally very regimented about where I'm cycling but the weather today meant I couldn't be, unless I wanted to get soaked (which I didn't as I hate getting wet even more than a cat does).

Although it led to me having a shorter and less picturesque cycle than I had proposed, it was really better for me than if everything had gone according to my plans. Rather than my usual rushing off home and moaning about the weather (which I've done the latter part of anyway), it was good to be less anal and realise a setback doesn't mean everything has turned to poo poo. Without meaning to sound completely full of it, it was quite liberating for me to make up my route as it went along and not stick to a designated path I had already worked out. Why, I even cycled along a couple of roads I had never been on before just to see where they led. Although this might be normal behaviour for those non-retentive mentallers among us, it was unusual for me and rather enjoyable. I'll have to do this again, heading out for a cycle with no chosen prior route and destination.

* = I had already decided to wuss out of my seven glens and cut it down to four. Maybe the weather was punishing me for being such a lightweight? Maybe not. I'm not that paranoid.