I am stationed in San Joaquin Valley, California--no rain, 95 deg F for 8.5 months; rain and constant fog/mist for 3.5 months. Off on my commute for what was to be the early and unanticipated end of the dry season at lunch time that day, I'm riding my bike home onto the normally hard-packed farm road--actually enjoying the cool mist--when I grind to a slow motion stop in about 2.5 inches of hard-packed turned mud... and too shocked to come free. .. The satisfaction of thinking that "at least no one saw me go down" is nullified when I ride into my neighborhood covered in mud. Their speculation worse than the reality...