Today I braved the rain. I left my hotel at 7:30, and started biking on the shoulder of the 190 highway. I crossed narrow bridges over flooded rivers, with strong thunder and lightning startling me every minute. The road was dark from the cloud cover - so dark that the street lights were turned on. Side roads were drowned under a foot of water, and the rain just wouldn't stop.
This road was no place for a bike. After 15km, soaking wet with my feet sloshing around in my water-logged shoes, I decided to stop to look at the weather forecast, and consider my options.
I stopped in a doughnut shop by the side of the road, and stayed there for about half an hour, while making the decision to stop for the day. "I'm stupid, but not suicidal," is what I told them. I found a hotel room nearby, and miserably biked to it.
There have now been two times in my life where I feared for my life while biking. The last time I did it was when I biked through a snowstorm in Montreal. Today, I was almost hit twice by cars turning on and off the highway. I found myself screaming in terror at cars that got close, and simply hating the situation. The US National Weather service, in a very cheesy but wholesome song, recommends that when you see flooded roads, "turn around, don't drown." I did not listen to the advice, and for a few meters, on the side road leading to the hotel, I literally biked through water that was a foot deep. It wasn't moving, so I felt safe, but boy, even the pedestrians stopped in their tracks, in the middle of the rain, to look at me like I was some kind of whacko.
I arrived at the hotel while they were still serving breakfast. The clerk let me check in early, and I went to my room, and went back downstairs to eat breakfast.
I'm staying in a very nice hotel. There's room to walk around my room and the hotel itself, which has a large covered yard in the center. My room is heated. At noon, I fell asleep and woke up at 5:30. I'm not sure where the fatigue came from, but I suspect it was the hour of riding the bike in the morning. That, or I'm getting sick.
In my plans, I have the rest day flexibility. I just didn't think I would need to use it so soon. Yesterday, I was worried about finishing the ride. Today I'm not. Today I got paid from my stipend, and I'm confident in my finances, and in my ability to make up for lost bike time. I know that on good days, I can make up for bad days, and that today's weather will not affect tomorrow's mood.
After I checked in, it started to get sunny. This would have bothered me, but I know that my next stretch of road is 170km with next to nothing, and frankly, I'm not going to risk getting caught in the above road conditions again, only far from civilization this time.
There's a chance that tomorrow will be rest day number 3.
Behold, 18km.