Getting To Class In The Rain At UW-Madison

My alarm goes off at 9:15 am; like every other Tuesday, I have given myself exactly 15 minutes to brush my teeth and bike 2 miles to class. It has worked really well until today. Today it’s pouring.

After hailing a neat little line of expletives at the Wisconsin weather, I run through my options (fast) for getting to class in the rain.

My handy dandy ASM bus pass

1. Use My Free Bus Pass

One of the most pragmatic things that UW-Madison’s student government (The Associated Students of Madison or ASM) has done for the student body is get us free bus passes every semester.

Now if you’re like me, you avoid buses because you have a fragile sense of direction and a tendency to hop on vehicles going the right direction to nowhere. So what do you do at 9:15 on your Tuesday morning? You go here! To Madison Metro Transit! And using 2 of your precious morning minutes to see if you can’t catch a bus to campus.

2. Bike With Whimsy (ie. Plastic Bags)

One of the many friendly bike lanes at UW

Option number 2: I wrap everything paper and book-related in one bag. Then a full change of clothes (NOT forgetting socks and underwear) in another bag. And a nice fluffy beach towel in another bag.

Then I bike to class in the rain with a huge grin on my face because I’m getting absolutely soaked. I run into Humanities, find a dingy bathroom and speed change: dry off with towel, put on dry clothes, put the wet towel into the towel bag and the now wet clothes into what was the dry clothes bag.

Note: All of this occurs with magical exchanges on the hook in the bathroom stall, because wet clothes plus dingy Humanities floor makes me gag.

Then I go to class and sit in a superior manner next to those people that have wet pant bottoms and shoes.

3. Wisconsinites Fear Not The Rain

I was going to put an option 3 that said “Give Up, Stay Home, Make Hot Chocolate And Cuddle With Your Cat,” but this goes against the Wisconsinite,  UW-Madison spirit. We laugh in the face the elements. We eat fried cheese curds by the gallon. We are NOT victim to a few torrential drops of rain.

If option 1 and option 2 fail, then I WALK (or in this case, RUN) to class with my umbrella. Will I be soaked? Yes. But it will be the prideful soaking of one who is held back by NOTHING. Except maybe a Packer’s game.

Evidence of fearless rain bikers this week; note the protective plastic bag.