30% - what's your interpretation?

I don't know if you remember, but way back in June I started the summer with great enthusiasm for commuting by bikng to work. Well, summer didn't - wasn't as cooperative as I had hoped, between my second job schedule, a bout of the flu and the weather, until yesterday I hadn't ridden to work at all. So, as yesterday was the last day of work before the school year officially restarts next week I jumped out of bed at 5am (note the sarcasm) got my gear together and took Mr. Fish and Chips advice and checked the weather report.

"30% chance of scattered showers starting between 1-3pm". Great, I can leave work at 2. But hey only 30% means there is a 70% chance it won't rain right? I've sat at home on days with a higher percent chance and it's been completely dry so I'm not going to let this stop me - plus, scattered showers. It's going to completely miss me, I know it. But somewhere in the back of my head was this little voice reminding me of the 100 mile ride we took a few summers ago with a 40% chance of rain - when it poured for 60% of the ride - that math didn't make sense at all.

So as I left work yesterday afternoon, I could see the big storm clouds up ahead and behind me. I just kept pedaling and thinking about the possible stops if it became torrential. I made it to the half way point, no rain. I pedaled past a possible safe haven shop, no rain. I watched the storm clouds move farther east and begin to clear, still no rain. I felt a drop......... then a few more, but still not a shower. I then found myself in completely soaking wet, puddle filled roads with rain dripping down my glasses and my shoes filling with water. I didn't have much of a choice given my location so I decided to keep going until it became worse. I took my usual route, passed a town line marker and the roads were dry. I made it home a bit soggy but given that the rest of the ride was completely dry and sunny the bike and I dried off before we opened the garage doors.

Yes a long story that doesn't lend excitement to most. The part I like about it is the math. I didn't realize that a 30% chance of rain seems to mean something different in biking terms. It seems the percentage change of rain - refers to that fact that it rained exactly 30% of my ride. I'll keep this in mind next time - but truly I would have ridden if it had been 50% as well - it's only 33 miles each direction after all :)

When last we met our superhero...............

She was excited about having ridden her bicycle to work, well................................................. I knew it would change, and it did. After getting rained out and another failed attempt, which resulted in my being stranded in Raymond with a HUGE puncture in not only my tube, but my tire as well and Mr. Romance coming to my rescue at 6am, I rode to work again. It was HARD, and it's taken me two days to recover. I'm not sure what's going on, I will do it again, probably on Tuesday, but it was a struggle.

In other news, the back of house and the deck have been pulled apart and are slowly be put together again. It's a long process involving many generations of my family. My dad and grandfather came down from northern Maine last weekend in 90 plus heat to bake in the sun and give us help and much needed advice on what to do, especially about the rotten parts. My brother who's living with us for the summer was good enough to help after having worked in the sun all day himself. For the second time this spring we could almost walk from the backyard into the basement without using a door. Interesting.

There is good news to be had in less favorable news, my beautiful Julia spinning wheel is here! It showed up on Tuesday, and it's wonderful. So smooth, and quiet and I'm getting better at it. I just plied some beautiful orange/pink wool of some sort that I bought at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival. I'm not sure exactly what wool combination it is, but it was fun to see how my skills had improved from the beginning of the spool to the end. It's encouraging, because it wasn't so great in the beginning. Practice and all is coming..........

pedal pedal pedal pedal

I did it, I actually pedaled my bike to work yesterday. To many people this is not impressive, but to me it is. It's 30+ miles to get there and I left at 5am to do it. Last summer when we moved I talked about it, but never really acted on it. So a bit ago during Bike to Work week, I contemplated it. The problem with that week was my afterschool (I'm a preschool speech therapist) schedule. After packing a backpack with work clothes and some "freshen up" supplies, I kept getting myself ready to do it. I am a strange bird sometimes, hummmmmm let's clarify my meaning here. I find that when I tell people about my plans they are more likely to not come true then when I keep it to myself to share with them afterward. A bit backwards I'm afraid, but at least I'm aware. Mr. Romance was a bit hesitant with my doing it. To give him his due, I did tell him the wrong mileage at 40+, which made him a bit nervous for me. During the ride I decided to take the shorter route and fight with traffic instead of more mileage. This decision was made while grinding up a hill and wondering how much energy I'd have for chasing my friend A. around the preschool all day. It ended up being a bit fun actually, I'm sure the novelty won't be there the next time, but think I smiled most of the way there because I was ACTUALLY riding my bike to work. You must understand that my dream job would allow me to do that everyday. Seeing as we've chosen to live outside of a large city, I know this is a pipe dream. But sometimes it's fun to dream.

In knitting news I've finished the pink gables. These ladies are great designers. I love this t-shirt. It knit up so easily and it looks great on (in my opinion anyway) I just feel great when I wear it. There aren't many of my projects that I can say that about truly. I'm actually thinking about making another one it's so comfortable. I'm taking an airplane trip next month and this would be great for traveling! I'm referring to actually taking it to work on, I'm not ambitious enough right now to get it done it time to wear it.