Why the rain doesn't stop bicycling in Pacific Northwest

Back in the years before I moved to the Pacific Northwest, a rainy day like today would have kept me indoors. Not anymore.

Here's a small club ride I ran into along rolling May Valley Road between Issaquah and Newcastle on Saturday morning.

Why do you find so many bicyclists out on a rainy day on the first weekend of May? Here are some reasons:

— If you're going to ride your bike here, you have to do a lot of riding in the rain. I never heard this saying until I got here: “There's no bad weather for bicycling, only bad gear.”

— It's the first weekend of National Bicycle Month.

— It was warm and sunny most of the week when people were making their bike riding plans for the weekend.

— Only 10 weekends until the 30th annual Seattle-to-Portland bike ride.

— Often when it rains, the air is nice and calm. No headwinds.

— The rain knocks the pollen out of the air.

— When endless sunny, dry weather hits in July, August and September, you'll be in shape to ride all day.

Any other reasons?

In any case, I left the house just as it started to rain and got in 20 miles. Like I said, never would have enjoyed that bike ride before I moved here.