Dryer Days?

The weather is not cooperating! WTH? We drove down to New Paltz on Thursday night in some mild weather. Thursday was by far the nicest fall day we have had in...well...I can't remember when. Checking the forecast for the weekend showed partly cloudy, mild percent chance of rain. Or so that's what weather.com led me to believe - they were WRONG! It poured yesterday. Pretty much all f--in day. From late Thursday night. To early this morning. Why is this so vexing to me? (More importantly why is my blog becoming a weather channel recap)? We want to ride bikes! Is that too much to ask for?

Originally we were going to hike up 3 peaks in the Catskills and camp out on one of the mountains for a night. I, however, decided it would be a much better idea to catch the cold that all of my co-workers have brought into our office making the decision to go camping a bad one. Well, really, it's not a bad one - I am just so scared of catching pneumonia again, that anytime I get anything more than a slight head cold, I tend to put my outdoor-in-inclement-weather activities on hold. All, of course, except for mountain biking. I figure a sweat inducing ride will knock the germs right out. Why is this different from hiking multi peaks? Well, in some form of twisted justification (if you're a doctor please feel free to correct my thought process, here) riding consists of a shorter time frame where I would be sweaty and once done I can take a shower to warm up. Camping, on the other hand, you get all sweaty climbing then once stopped you (or at least I do) tend to get clammy, then subsequently the chills set in, that combined with having to sleep on the cold ground all night creates a recipe for more sickness. (I do have an R-4 rated camp pad - not enough for cold blooded me). Throw in a cold to this noxious recipe and it equals an uncomfortable feeling within my lungs and I, as I have mentioned, do not want pneumonia ever again. It took me way too long the last time to recover. So, yes, NEVER AGAIN!

Now it is Saturday and it the world outside is completely saturated and covered in a cool, damp blanket of grey. The caffienating rush of my hot coffee, smell of faux bacon and (real) eggs is drawing me slowly out of the mental haze that I awoke with this morning. Checking the weather (yes, weather.com again), even though it's success rate has not been stellar, it is showing sunshine by midday. We are planning on riding today regardless, so I suppose it doesn't really matter. The trails are going to be a muddy mess no matter what the meteorological gods have in store for this afternoon. I know, I am not a fan of tearing up trails after a long rain. But it has been way too long and besides I heard mud cures colds (definitely do not refute this despite your MD/educational background - I know I am right on this one)!