We were on the road promptly at 6am today, inspired in no short measure by the immenant threat of severe thunderstorms...! As we left town in the pre-dawn light, there were a dozen or so very large dogs lined up on the side of the highway facing west, shoulder to shoulder. They just watched silently as we peddled by... very surreal! We made great time for the first 30 miles. The road was a designated bike route (highway 51) and had a 6' shoulder most of the way. Add to that the fact that the thunderstorms were coming from the southwest and provided us with a strong tailwind...and motivation!
As usual Andy rode on ahead, so it was just April and I that stopped for a gatorade at the BP station 10 miles south of Union City. We were loudly welcomed inside by the cashier; a woman that genuinely seemed to LOVE her job. We had no sooner sat down, than the weather caught up with us and it was wind, thunder, lightning, and heavy rain!
I called Norma for a radar weather report, and she filled me in on the latest info. which included 2 lines of thunderstorms moving rapidly through our area. Well, we decided that we could out ride the second line if we waited for the first to pass...and since it was raining pitchforks and hammer-handles outside it was easy to have another cup of coffee and wait it out.
When the rain let up a bit and the worst was past us, we suited up in our rain gear and hit the road. We hadn't gone more than a mile when passing traffic began honking at me excitedly... I looked back to see April in the ditch and her bike in an interesting postion nearly on top of her! I stopped, but she was up and moving before I could turn around and signaled me to keep going. I waited until she was underway, and then kicked it down.
Now riding in the rain is bad enough, but the nice wide shoulder I mentioned earlier disappeared and was replaced with about 18" of questionable asphalt. However, inspite of everything we made it to Union City ahead of the second line of storms.
We stopped just inside city limits to assess any possible damage to April or her bike. She had ripped her raingear, and deeply scuffed her helmet... yes, she was wearing her helmet! And as a result she literally does not have a scratch on her...whew! Her bike, with its newly mended derailleur, will need some work on of all things the derailleur...$%&*%&!!! So I'll be getting to that this afternoon once we're fed and dried out.
The weather looks like it'll break by morning, and tomorrow should be an interesting ride.
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