Rained out.

I missed the group ride today. I dont go on many, so I am seething with fustration.
They all leave at far points from my house , usally too far to get to.( Far enough for me, is 15 km, so 30 round trip,plus the ride , which is 27 - 70 km. ) A mere ride to the nut brown old people who whizz about town, passing me like Im a little girl, who would much rather play jumprope.

So after a rare day off on wed, I had planned to ride to this unfamilar suburb, this bastion of middle class comfort( in Canberra,they all look more of less the same- leafy green wattles, roundabouts, red tile roofs).
I pulled pages out of the phone book and everything, to get to this mysterious car park, nestled strangely by the scout hall and petrol station.

I awoke( after dreams of not beng able to call the group leader on my iphone - which I dont own - and gladly as if its anything like the phone in my dream, its a piece of crap and only usefull to some alien civilization) to rain. Pouring down buckets.

Here is my main complaint. What the hell is a spray jacket useful for?
Its not useful for rain. Am I to assume that its use is for those days , post apre rain - where one scoots amongst delighful puddles and delicate sprays , launched from friendly cars rolling on past?
Why does it LOOK like a rain coat, so after you spend a uge chunk of cash on the fucking thing, only to find that in a downour, your getting very wet AND sweaty? A interesting ride home where I tried to ride fast enough to beat the rain soaking THRU the jacket, but not so fast the sweat , spaking thru the inside met the ouside( thru my jumper) and gave me pneumonia.

Perhpas they are made for those alpine rides, where I coast like a speeding marmot( or wombat or something) down the sloping road, avoiding the mist that delicately soaks my merino vintage style jersey.

Note the use of delicate. Thats about as much protection as you get. 5 km of dryness, and 25 km of sogginess.

Searching on the web, for someone, ANYONE who can ship to Oz( I mean hey, I am like on a nother planet or something according to the postage rules). Most sites dont even have a way to ship things anywhere but the fucking USA.
Or no womens coats. Or one type , only in rasberry( no!!No!! No!! Why am I constrained to colours best left to infant girls and restrained from what I want.

A BLACK RAINCOAT. My bike is black, My shoes are black, my socks are black( note to self ; leave accidental purchase of black sox to Armstrong and flasher), my kits is black( I am pasty whitish yellow). I dont want blue. Blue clashes with the orange stripes on the black bike, Although it matches the bike I ride in the rain.
Somehow I imagine guys dont do this. Match things up so obsessively. But then all the roadies I see , all seem to have colour coordinated kits - red, or maybe yellow, lastly blue.

I dont know what is wrong with me. I found the perfect rainjacket( Ground Effect NZ) well somewhat perfect. I have to take second mortage to buy it, most likely and in womens sizes, it comes in blue or gree or orange BUT NOT BLACK.

The problem here is that I missed yet another ride, because I still havent bought this jacket , as i unable to choose the colour.
This is why I wear black. Why I have worn black for the last 25 years. I gave up. I use to wear things like kimonos, african safari outfits, capes, pirate garb, 60's go go outfits, tuxedo jackets. All wierd, and all colors. One day I got sick of beong so damn quirky and gave up. Then 10 years after that, I was too poor to afford anything but black jeans, a black t shirt and black doc Martins. I, like guys, bought a exact copy the day it wore out.
Black avoids the obsessive compulsive needs to make everything match, although it makes me look pasty yellow. I look much better in pink, In fact I love pink. But try getting grease out of pink.

Or I wear white. Or really, white with grease stains, as nothing stays unpersonalized for long.
I guess its looks as if I might actually cycle, rather than tool about in a 10,000 dentist mobile.

I am wishing I went liquigas and could buy everything in that putrid green chartrues and ride about looking like the cycling absinthe fairy. But, yet again foiled for women, seeing as I am small economy size, all the bikes you could purchase at the LBS( well the far away LBS) were surely made for giants. Bianchi mint green was nice.
But no , the magick bicycle that appeared, in my size range and in my price range, used - was guess- black!! You think I'd be happy. No I wanted grey. Its easier to match with the neutral colour of womens clothing.

Pathetic. Here I am, freshly better, able to conquer , out of bed, ready to kick ass and I'm worrying about THE COLOUR OF MY CLOTHES. Sad.
Not rejoicing, halleluyah! Im out of bed! Fucking A - no more pain! Yee ha, I weigh more than a 10 year old child( although kids now days seem to come in large economy size).

Excuses, excuses. Maybe I am afraid of failing. But it sure would be better to get up and find out, rather than try to deny it and worry about jackets.

So, I get online, to finally, after3 months, buy the beautiful but expensive rainjacket. And what happens, they wont let me use my customer number.

So here I sit, rain has cleared up, holding my credit card, bereft of rainjackets. Good thing its sunny.

peace
CG