Whoever said you have to face your fears was right. Being a Southern California native, rain has not been on my top 5 list, or top 10, 100. Actually, it was; it was pretty high up on the list of things I truly, utterly despise.
Berkeley was the first experience with extended periods of rain, but I was still able to avoid it. Perhaps by running to the car, skipping class, not hitting up Kip’s for a night, I did whatever it took to avoid at all costs any contact with the rain. My most depressing days at Cal involved rain, and at that time two days would feel like years of nonstop rain.
Then I moved to NYC. I always said, and you can quote me on this, that I would rather it snow than rain. Rain is so wet. Who wants to get to dinner or work or the bar soaking wet? At least with the snow, it can be pretty and just vanish when it touches your clothing. Snow just floats, sometimes flurries, but it never seems too invasive. One may think, how can a water athlete have such disposition for water. It’s not the water, it’s my clothing being wet. If I went to work in a swimsuit, it would be a whole different story. The reality is no job I had in NYC allowed swimwear to work (I promise the bar I worked at turned into a bikini bar, yes you heard me right- bikini bar, after I left.) My most miserable day, the day rain hit an all time low with me, was when the subways flooded. A 40 minute commute turned into 2 hours. Rain was on my shit list. Well, apparently, unbeknownst to me, I found the solution: grab rain by the balls. Face it HEAD ON…
…and move to Holland.
Now, a day is not a day without rain. If I was the person I was a couple months ago, I would say this is my worst nightmare. When your only mode of transportation is biking, it is impossible to avoid facing that fear. That 2 hour commute to work, when half the time I was in a cab or bus, was put to shame today. 3 hours of biking in nothing but constant rain. Occasionally a downpour, sometimes a little lighter, but raining incessantly for 3 hours as I was completely lost. There is no other option; biking in the rain is inevitable.
In other words, I got over it real quick.