San Jose Bike Party's November ride was decreed to be our "Hillbilly Ride". The weather forcast said 80% chance of rain. Since my impression of the hillbilly world on a rainy night involves frogs, as part of my prep work I put this gis sticker on my bike in the only spot I could find that was big enough.



When I got to the start it hadn't started raining yet. Finding Hillbillys was difficult. There were lots of bikes, and lots of people having a good time, but not many that didn't look at home in San Jose. Finally a camo wearing guy in old jeans went by and I pulled out my camera.

     

It wasn't long after that when we started rolling. I found out later that the official count of riders was just under 500 of us. Not bad for a rainy night!

     

     

        

     

     

I asked Renee what about her was Hillbilly enough that I could put her picture in this set. She said "I am hillbilly, I don't need to dress up for that." So there you see a real hillbilly.

The couple on that blue wheeled bike wasn't particularly dressed, but somehow seeing a young couple on a bike like that touched me. It takes a lot of strength and a lot of trust to go more than twenty miles like that. Wow!

Most of the ride that guy was pedaling his big wheel like it was a bicycle, but there was one hill where I caught him pushing it. If I ever get a chance to photograph that thing rolling at night I'm going for it. Surely it will be a cool shot.

     

     

     



It's hard for a rain ride to be more comfortable than this one was. It was warm enough that we didn't need that much clothing, and the rain had the character of a settling mist. By this regroup everybody was in a good mood. The vibe was very nice.



I'm grateful to the organizers for finding regroup spots where we could get out of the rain.

     

This guy was the only one I saw who'd put an awning/umbrella on his bike. He didn't look wet so maybe it worked.

The last thing I did after I got home was put my plants out on the sidewalk so that God could water them for a change.