Mother Nature: 4; Caroline: 0

It's my blog and I'll whine if I want to.
#FirstWorldProblems, obviously, but I'm going to whine all the same.

Does anyone else here in NoVa feel like they are living in the Pacific Northwest this summer (just with alot of extra heat and humidity to complement all that rain?). Oh good, glad I'm not the only one. It seems like every time I velcro-up my bike shoes, Mother Nature puts on her cranky pants and literally rains all over my parade to and from work. This has happened to me enough lately that today, I absolutely HAD it and stewed all the way home.

Both days this week that I've taken the bike out, major rain wasn't forecast. In fact, it was dry both times I left the office. On Wednesday I was even able to squeeze in a few loops at Hains Point before the skies suddenly turned threatening. I cut my Hains ride short and biked home in the hopes of outbiking the rain. It's never a good sign when you can see the giant sheet of rain just hanging over the portion of the bike path you are headed towards. I was a little over two miles from home when the skies opened up and gave me a good soaking. Good thing I wrap my iPhone up in plastic along with my work clothes - the bag I commute with isn't waterproof (on that line, anyone have any recommendations for waterproof bike bags? The way it works is if I invest in one, Mother Nature will suddenly stop pouring on me).

And today, it rained this morning - light rain while at the pool; the heavy rain waited for me to get out of the pool and onto my bike. So considerate. Stopped raining while I was at the office, enough for it to dry out considerably by the time I left work. I literally had ONE BLOCK of dry pavement before the skies opened. Again. I was soaked within minutes - and hopping mad. This is ridiculous. At least I was wearing my bathing suit and bike shorts, but alas that seemed to fuel Mother Nature's anger and the rain just came down harder as I rode down the Mall. By the time I got to the 14th Street Bridge, you could barely see the outline of the buildings in Arlington through the haze of rain. It stopped as I pulled onto my street. Of course. I barged into the house, dripping rain, mud, and dirty-bike-juice all over the house as I hauled my bike into the basement. I don't think my bike shoes will recover from this, they are permanently wet and stinky. I'm also tired of getting into the shower when I am already soaking wet. What is the point? Probably to get all the dirt off that is flung onto me as I bike under Route 1 along 4 Mile Run creek (I dread that area, always giant puddles and remnants of a mudslide. Fun times). And here I sit, zero motivation to get dressed in respectable clothes and do anything besides eat the bagels I double-bagged, as well as the giant slice of brie cheese I brought home. Woe is me.

Speaking of bagels, I think I have competition when it comes to office bagel thievery. The 11th floor kitchen was CLEANED OUT and they took every single one of the wheat bagels and sesame bagels from the 12th floor. Le sigh. I'm going to have to be more proactive, no more sitting on my 15-bagel-haul laurels anymore.