I was committed to be riding according to my planned schedule this week. That would be Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I knew it would be raining, but I have rain gear and was actually looking forward to doing some riding in the rain. It is not as pleasant as when it is sunny, but with the right equipment and gear it can be just as fun.
I started just after 06:06, which is pretty close to my scheduled 06:00 start! My schedule calls for the ride to end at 07:15. Because of the rain both this morning and most of yesterday, I wanted to limit my ride to an area where I wouldn't be wading through water and where the visibility to motorists would be best. I decided to head west on Speedway and do my Speedway-Pantano River Park-Kenyon-Old Spanish Trail ride. I was thinking it would be a bit long as it normally take an hour thirty minutes are close to it (I checked. It is 1:17 @ 13 miles).
I enjoyed heading out to accomplish my plan. When I got onto Speedway heading west and approached the low spot just East of Houghton, I saw the water reflecting off the road. I figured I would have to go into the center of the road and would only have to wade through a minimal depth of water. I was wrong. I didn't have to move to the center as the water was just deep enough to be considered water instead of wetness. That was good.
The rain was coming down steadily, but not very hard. It wasn't really affecting me except for when I got up around 20 mph. At that speed I could feel the rain drops pelting my face and there were more hitting it. However, it wasn't painful or too much an annoyance.
As I was heading South on the Pantano River Park path, I thought, "Hey, I don't have to rid up Old Spanish Trail and do the whole standard ride I was on. I could cut across somewhere and shorten it. The best place would be to continue on Kenyon and not turn onto Old Spanish Trail. This would end up taking me past Gridley Middle School and back on Broadway. This would save me maybe 10 minutes.
I then thought, maybe I could save more and get it down to my planned hour of riding by just cutting up Broadway from the Pantano River Park. Uh, NO. Broadway has a lot of traffic and the section between Camino Seco and Harrison is horrible rough pavement and is not a pleasant ride. I decide to stick to going past Gridley.
As I followed my plan and was riding this cut through section, I began to realize I was likely cutting off more than ten minutes. It turns out that my ride took me 1:03 when the stops are included. That means I trimmed off about 14 minutes.
Now back to when I was riding along Speedway. I realized that it was quite peaceful and a great time to meditate. I, in fact, did some meditating and had some thoughts I wanted to remember so I pulled over and recorded them in my phone.
This was a great ride and I loved getting out today! The rain wasn't bad. I did have to get my clothes in the washer when I got home though.

Looks like my average cadence is on the lower end of ideal. At 85 rpm, it is barely in the target range of 85 to 95 rpm or greater. When I am in shape and have been riding consistently, I like to be at 95+ rpm.