The trip in was odd because it rained when I was riding in sunshine, and didn't rain when I was riding under dark clouds. The wind was blowing from every direction, and at times the rain was almost horizontal.
The worst of it was when I got into town. It's not too bad if you are moving, but I was stuck at a red light, and it is the slowest light change in the city. Just as I pulled up, it started to bucket down like there was no tomorrow. I've been in Singapore during the monsoon, and it was like that for a few minutes.
A lady was sitting on a step outside a pub, nursing a coffee and a fag. She looked at me in the pissing rain and started laughing good naturedly. I laughed back, and told her that the worst part was just standing there copping it. It would be fine once I started moving. The rain was coming down so hard, I had to repeat myself and shout. We continued chuckling until the light went green.
Clearly, she thought I was totally mad.
As there was only one other bike parked at work, she might have been right. There are normally at least a dozen. I saw only one other cyclist on the way in today, whereas normally there are dozens and dozens and dozens.
Was it a problem?
Not at all. I have good wet weather gear, and frankly, it's not that tough when you know there is a hot shower waiting for you at the end of the ride. When I compare it to standing in a half dug gun pit for most of the night in the pouring rain, with the temp not far above zero, the mud creeping up above your ankles and nothing more than a lousy army issue raincoat for protection (you've never seen a crap raincoat until you've seen what the army used to dish out), it doesn't even rate on the difficulty scale. Particularly when you discover in the morning that you section commander has just found a leech on the end of his knob.
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