Cycling in the rain, again

The weather is not so subtly telling me that summer is over and it is time to head south. After my run in with the rain last Monday, my daily ride was rained out on Tue, and on Wed I cycled less than a mile before my chain got profoundly twisted while shifting. Actually at first I thought it had somehow rusted stiff (without any visible rust) despite my post-rain care to it, but it was just so badly twisted that none of the links could move freely while it was on the bike. In any case I ended up having to buy a new chain. I might have been able to re-use the old one if I had broken it at the twisted link but I had trouble locating it while the chain was still on the bike. Without a bike to ride, it took me a couple days to make it into the city to get a new chain. I managed to get a ride in after installing it, but it is getting dark earlier now and mist was rising, so it was a short ride.

Yesterday morning the sun was shining gloriously when I got up and I thought I'd take the opportunity to take a good long ride (well about 35-40 miles anyway). It turns out that the weather sometimes comes in from the northeast rather than the southwest as I had noticed in the past. Less than 8 miles out I took shelter in a bus-shelter to wait out the rain. I waited and waited. Things to do while waiting in a bus-shelter for the rain to stop:
- Document occasion with a photograph.
- Call people on one's cell phone (but nobody answering!).
- Stretch.
- Adjust saddle position.
- Contemplate alternative routes on map in case rain really stops.
- Photograph handlebar wrapping in preparation for replacing handlebars.
- Do calf-building exercises (to balance out slender cycling calves with increasingly muscular cycling thighs - especially since friend noted discrepancy).
- Wonder whether this would make an amusing blog entry.
Eventually I gave up and rode back in the rain, which continued for the rest of the day. The forecast for today is the same as yesterday. So I am glad I will be heading to Tuscany later this week for a cycling trip with my friend and colleague Giulia before I move to NYC. However, it is going to be really difficult to leave Mormor. Really really difficult. Not just because she feeds me so well.