36 Degrees and Driving Rain

Today's weather, 36 degrees and a cold, driving rain, convinced most twowheelers to leave their bikes inside where they'd be nice and dry and take their back up transportation (bus or "box") to work. Of course, I HAD to ride. I've come to enjoy riding in the rain, especially now that I have rain gear that keeps me mostly dry.

As I rode through the downpour yesterday I imagined walking through the woods at our farm that my  9 year-old son, Brandon, and I planted almost 20 years ago......3,000 red and white oak seedings that we bought from the State nursery in Zanesville. (It's been closed for years now, an early casualty of budget cuts.) Ohio's climate and latitude create perfect growing conditions for some of the world's finest hardwood forests. Thanks to the cold rain like today, our woods has grown strong and tall......like my son, who, after 4 years in the New York City investment banking world, is taking off a year or so to back pack solo around the world. You can check out his exploits at www.wheresmorgan.com (be sure to click on the YouTube clip of his impromptu band gig at a Beijing dive bar).

The forests that greeted Ohio's first settlers must have been magnificent. They harvested and hewed mamoth timbers of oak and chestnut to construct the early log houses and timber frame barns that still dot the Ohio countryside. Over the past 20 years, I've moved and reconstructed 2 large 1820-era log houses and a pre-Civil War barn, made from such timbers. They are something to behold. The largest white oak logs in our log houses are 26 feet long and more than 20 inches wide. The longest chestnut timber in the barn is 45 feet long. Without rain like today, these timbers and vernacular architecture would not exist.

Nor would the abundant wildlife that relies on the hardwood forest for food and shelter. I will gather with good friends next week for our annual deer camp at the Morgan Farm. I do not hunt myself, but believe that done for the right purpose (i.e. good, healthy food), hunting is part of the natural cycle of things and very necessary to control the deer population that is out of control in Ohio. (Two Thanksgivings ago we had a deer come through the windshield and nearly kill our son, Brandon......check my blog archive for my account of this harrowing experience.) The wild turkey are also firmly reestablished in Ohio and are magnificent birds.

I also imagine this rain replenishing the groundwater at the farm that gushes out of the spring down in the hollow. In the summer, the water cress grows abundantly there and you can turn over most any moss covered stone and find a spotted salamander or leopard frog.

I don't blame anyone for not riding in the rain, but like icebiking, with the proper gear you can do it and even enjoy it. I am thankful for the rain and all that it enables. 

Comments

[Diane]

I rode yesterday in the driving rain - I don't have any great biking gear like Doug but I wear my Carhart jumpsuit and that works just fine. I tell everyone "it's no fashion show" but I am thankful for the gear that I have assembled for my rides. No one seems to understand that I will ride to work, down High street, as much as I can. I would like to know what does everyone wear for gloves - that seems to be the one area that is almost always cold!

[Paul Haninger]

When the temp drops to 30 or below I put on lobster gloves. They keep your hands as warm as mittens would but allow you to still brake and shift gears. I wear the Pearl Izumi brand. They are not cheap but the keep my hands warm and dry. The AmFib material blocks the wind and rain so your hands will be comfortable in all kinds of weather. I know some riders use hand warmers in their gloves to accomplish the same thing