Working downtown again

The office moved downtown from Lake Oswego. This means the bike commute got a whole lot tougher. I also had a surgery on December 3rd that kept me off the bike for nearly 6 weeks. Did my second ride in yesterday and wow....the rain was really coming down on a cool 39 degree morning. Living in Oregon, one gets a bit cavalier about rain. So I left my backpacks rainfly in the pack, and my gore tex rain paints in the pack...and one of my rain booties had a broken zipper (new pair at the bottom of my backpack) so it was flapping open in the back. By the time I finished my commute, my shoes, sealskinz, booties, and tights were soaked through. After getting to the office and opening the backpack, I found that water had forced it's way in, making my jeans soggy in spots. The ride home was much less eventful. Hitting the lights through downtown Portland at all the wrong times, I got off to a slow start. But after crossing Burnside on Broadway, the gentle climb up towards the west hills could begin. I spun easily, warming up my legs and drying out those still soaked tights and shorts. I hit Terwilliger and immediately spun up the tempo and pegged my cardiovascular system and didn't dial it back until I hit Multnomah Village. By that time, my legs were fried and I limped home on impulse power. But what a great day of riding. Can't wait for next week and the fitness gains I'll feel as I come back from surgery.