Riding in the Rain

We woke this morning in the town of Brna on the Island Korcula. It was cloudy, with a few patches of blue sky. The weather forecast wasn't good, and we had a 32 km scenic ride ahead of us. The term scenic is synonymous with climbing; the higher and steeper the climb, the better the scenery.

With breakfast behind us, we completed packing, then just when I was about to take the bags for the luggage transfer, the skies opened up. It poured rain, with lightning and thunder for about an hour. Our options were limited, to arrange a taxi for us and the bikes, or hit the road hoping for the best but prepared for the worst. We chose the latter, waited for the rain to almost stop and headed off.

About 7 kms into the ride, the rain started again. Quite light at first, but it wasn't long before it was a steady downpour. For those folks that have biked in the rain, you know you only get so wet, then the concern turns to body temperature. Today for us, the slow uphill climbs were warm, the level riding still comfortable, but the long downhill runs pretty cool.

Often, there was thunder and lightning off in the direction of our travels, but fortunately, each time the worst had moved on before our arrival.

For lunch, we had packed meat, cheese, fruit and wine, but we needed shelter. We have clear memories of finding a woodshed years ago while hiking in Switzerland in a similar situation, but in this warmer climate, a repeat was unlikely. As luck would have it though, while riding through a little mountainside village, we spotted a covered dugout at a multi-use sports field. It had 3 sides to break the wind, a bench to sit, and designed for "home" and "away" under the same roof, big enough for bikes and all.

The last half a dozen kilometers into the historic seaside town of Korcula were downhill. Arriving at our apartment, we were chilled and a warm shower welcome.

Under the circumstances, we'd had a good ride. The Island of Korcula scenery was quite spectacular, and riding in the rain made it all the more memorable.

Click this link for the next story in this series: From Vine to Wine