The weather forecast wasn't great - with the likelihood of rain more than 60 percent - but when's the last time a meterologist was right?

Um, today.

During our ferry ride from Staten Island to Battery Park for this year's Bike New York, we realized we were probably in for a soggy day. The Verrazano was almost invisible due to the overcast conditions, as were the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan.










Our hope was that the rain would pass quickly and turn into a sunny day, something that happened one of the first years Debbie and I tackled the ride. No such luck for the 2009 edition.

The drizzle picked up steam as we waited in lower Manhattan for the ride to begin. Here's a nice puddle on 6th Avenue at 8 a.m. You can imagine the size of the lakes that had formed in the streets six hours later...










One of the only back-ups we encountered during the day was getting onto the Queensboro (59th Street) Bridge...

which normally would have been annoying but on this day provided a nice respite from the rain...










These things looked ridiculous but I bet this gent's feet were nice and dry at the end of his 42 miles...

Guess whose weren't?

I started the day wearing long pants that held the rain at bay or a while but eventually my legs felt like they were encased in wet saran wrap.

The rain fell steadily throughout the day. At times I would call it a drizzle, at others it was an outright downpour. At times it was raining so hard it was ridiculous and laughable. My uncle and brother were temporarily concerned it might be hailing. But fun was had nonetheless. My brother was riding for the first time and although he's vowed he'll never do this again, I think he's kidding. He did particularly well for a first-timer and my uncle, outfitted with a new bike with 21 functioning gears (as opposed to last year, when he rode the entire 42 miles with two gears) had his best-ever ride.

Eventually, we employed a "just get it done" approach so after a quick break, it was on to tackle the beast, the Verrazano.

The steep, lengthy ride over the bridge was pretty smooth, no small feat given the effort it took to fight the headwinds and pelting rain on the Belt Parkway. Once in Staten Island, the clouds really rolled in, making the bridge almost invisible. But we certainly knew it was there...

Mission complete, I managed a smile despite being as cold and wet as I can remember...

Upon returning to the car, we peeled off as many wet layers as we could without risking an indeceny charge. When I arrived home and started to remove my belongings from the bike bag, I realized everything was soaked through, including my money...










I now have about nine hours to recuperate from today's exercise trauma before I arrive for Day 1 of the boot camp Debbie and I are starting tomorrow. Originally it was supposed to start next Monday but the instructor moved it up a week. I've already warned her I might not be at the top of my game tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

No matter what, I hope it works out better than things do for poor Scarlet here (and yes, I am a terrible person because this makes me laugh very, very hard)...