IF IT'S NOT ON STRAVA, IT DIDN'T HAPPEN! BAH HUMBUG!

     Well, most of it is on Strava, but that's only part of the story.  I planned a simple ride, out around Granger Lake and back.  The last time I did this, the roads we used today weren't built, so I guesstimated the mileage at 52 round trip.  When I can talk Callie into riding with me I try to come up with at least one new thing she hasn't seen/done before.  We put off this ride on Sunday because of the fierce wind (and rain forecast that didn't materialize), but my best guess was three and a half hours and maybe four.
     On weekend long rides I try to get out ten minutes before sunrise, but Tuesday being a work day, we aimed for 8:00 am and I didn't check the time, but it was close to that.  The forecast was zero percent of rain with a 5 mph SE wind building to 12-15.  We had our sun screen, I brought an extra bottle of water for Callie and had 90 ounces in my 100 ounce Camelbak.  Nutrition, check.  Off we went.
     My Fly6 has been acting strange lately, probably because I hit some button wrong.  So I packed an extra back light.  The first hour went just fine, averaged over 15 mph into that slight breeze, and stopped at the turn to Circleville for our first nutrition break.  On long rides I stop every hour.  Just before stopping, the Fly6 gave a loud four (I think) beeps then ran out of power and turned itself off.  I switched out with my 100% charged back-up.   As we started up again, heading north, I noticed the horizon turning dark.  Even with my sun glasses I could tell this wasn't in the forecast.  We should have had several hours of clear skies, then partly cloudy.
     We crossed Hwy 95 and did some climbing, then hit level ground.  Not much traffic, mostly pick-ups and all very polite, moving to the other lane to pass.  All the while, I kept looking over my left shoulder at the building clouds.  It's seven miles to the lake and dam.  The wind was out of the north now, not south-east, and fairly brisk.  It blew a few sprinkles out of the clouds.  Let me digress: There was this one huge, dark mass, the kind that produces hail, and several grey clouds off to the left, plus rain coming down about a mile off to our right.  It appeared to be slowly moving northwest to southeast.  With luck, we would be going around it.  If you've done this route before you know that there is zero shelter, once you pass the lake overlook.  It started sprinkling just as we finished the dam and turned left toward Granger.
     It's about eight miles on Hwy 971.  We kept looking at the dark mass, still on our left.  Then the sprinkles became a light rain.  But the "drops" were pretty hard, I'm sure there is a meteorological name for it.  Then the road turned left.  Dang!  By now we were discussing calling Brian and/or Marilane for a rescue.  Fortunately very few vehicles were on the road.  Then the road turned right, and it appeared the dark cloud wasn't destined for us.  Then the sun peaked through.
     We found a convenience store in Granger and it's rest room.  This was a longer stop than I anticipated, but necessary.  As we started off I apparently hit a wrong button on the Garmin because it very kindly "saved" my ride.  Pook, ding-fu!  This is how the ride on Strava acquired two parts.  The riding in the rain took a lot out of me, not to mention the mileage.  The northeast wind from the squall that was in our face turned into the forecast south- southeast wind, thus still in our face.  From Granger it was twenty-five miles back to Old Settlers Park and was relatively slow.  And uneventful, except:
     As we entered OSP, my Garmin turned itself off.  I checked when we got home, it was at 73%.  No clue.  But my combined mileage is still a mile and a half short.  Better than Callie, she forgot to start hers after our first rest stop and is six miles short.  AND, my second tail light had also run out of power, so who knows how long I wasn't blinking at Callie.  But, you are thinking to yourself, he had his Strava app on his cell phone going so his wife could keep up with where he was.  It had stopped when we rested in Granger, and didn't go further (a grave concern to said wife).  Plus, it had run down from 100% to 1% and had turned itself off also.  I had to plug it into the car before I could even call to let her know all was well.
     We survived.  It totaled 62 miles and took about four hours, fifteen minutes.  It has taken me four hours to recover to where I can get out of my chair to eat dinner.  Stretching will come later.