“Do you want to stay dry and cozy or do you want to ride in the rain to get all slippery and wet?” the contestant read from a card during a “Singled Out” game at tonight’s SFBC V-day event.

I would always want to stay dry and cozy. Several years ago, a friend challenged me.

“Ride in the rain,” he said. “You’re alone. You’re powering through. You find your strength.”

He said it with such emphasis that I filled with guilt when I would just take the BART or muni instead. But there are times that I would do it. I would ride letting my jeans soak and the water spray everywhere from my rear wheel (if I was riding my canondale). I hated it.

And avoided it for a year. Until today. I had forgotten why I disliked it. Today, I didn’t realize that it was going to rain due to California’s unstoppable drought. Then I walked outside. And it was. And because it was a bike coalition event, I couldn’t very well just wimp out and drive over. So instead, I hiked up my courage and rode in the slippery roads.

I hated how it sprayed in my face and the world seemed to glitter so dangerously.