The Quandry of Rain

Wednesday, November 09, 2005, at 06:12AM

By Eric Richardson

I hate waking up to rain. Not so much because I have anything against the rain, per se, but because it changes up my transportation choices. Today is a class day for me, which means heading the 3.3 miles or so to USC. I don't particularly care about getting wet during the 15 minutes I'm on the bike -- heck, I get sweaty on good days -- but there's no way I'm letting my bike sit uncovered on campus for several hours in even scattered showers.

And that led me to the question: what would a professor do if I brought my bike into class? At least for this first class the room in question is plenty big. I could stash it on a wall without getting in anyone's way.

I think that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to bring a lock, so either the bike stays or I go.

Update (4pm): I did indeed ride and take the bike into class. No real problems, but I learned some things I'll share after the jump...

It started to rain a bit more as I headed out. That wasn't cool.

• I would say that of the wet I got, 30% was from above and 70% was up from the road and my tires. That's no good. The front wheel especially soaked the bottom of my pant legs and my shoes.
• Wet shoes are no fun.
• It's fun riding with nothing on the bike -- no bag or rack.
• A rear rack can serve as an effective fender, but only if you leave it on the bike.

I took a little hand towel with me and wiped the bike off when I got to the building. The bike came out of this well. I, on the other hand, got very wet.