Bicycle ride through hell (hail)
I made a mistake yesterday. I looked at the online radar and thought I picked the right time to ride my bicycle home between the scattered thunderstorm cells. Forgetting that the radar images are delayed somewhat. My co-workers said I should "Ride like the wind" - the problem with that is that the wind was going north, strongly, and I wanted to go south. At times I had to pedal as hard as I could to go 7mph - downhill! Then the rain started. I had not missed the cells. In fact, by the end of the ride I managed to get rained on by three of them.
Continuing south, the rain started to get a bit heavier but still ride-able, and I began to get soaked. Then the real thunderstorm hit, including torrential rain with ice pellets and small hail mixed in. I kept pedaling, figuring that at this point I could not possibly get any wetter. The water sloshing out of my shoes confirmed that. Eventually it tapered off, about the time I turned east for the last few miles, and I began to dry slightly. For some strange reason, a couple of people honked at me while I was riding. Not sure whether it was meant to tell me I shouldn't be riding in the rain, or in support. Either way, the loudness of the horns just added to the misery. Final leg down Maple Street, with trees and limbs down and puddles covering half the street, the third cell added enough rain to make sure I didn't dry out before home. Leg cramps when I got home from pedaling so hard for over an hour complemented the rest of the ride.
My backpack proved waterproof, and my computer was completely dry. Not so the bag for the back of my bike. My wallet was soaked through. I unfortunately had my cell phone facing up and the water got in through the keypad. I am hoping it works when it dries out. The clothes in the panniers were also soaked, of course. I just stripped and dumped everything on the tiled entryway so it wouldn't get the house wet. After drying off, I spread the contents of my wallet to dry, opened the cell phone back to aid drying and tried to stretch the cramps out of my legs.
Next time, accept a ride home in a car.
Continuing south, the rain started to get a bit heavier but still ride-able, and I began to get soaked. Then the real thunderstorm hit, including torrential rain with ice pellets and small hail mixed in. I kept pedaling, figuring that at this point I could not possibly get any wetter. The water sloshing out of my shoes confirmed that. Eventually it tapered off, about the time I turned east for the last few miles, and I began to dry slightly. For some strange reason, a couple of people honked at me while I was riding. Not sure whether it was meant to tell me I shouldn't be riding in the rain, or in support. Either way, the loudness of the horns just added to the misery. Final leg down Maple Street, with trees and limbs down and puddles covering half the street, the third cell added enough rain to make sure I didn't dry out before home. Leg cramps when I got home from pedaling so hard for over an hour complemented the rest of the ride.
My backpack proved waterproof, and my computer was completely dry. Not so the bag for the back of my bike. My wallet was soaked through. I unfortunately had my cell phone facing up and the water got in through the keypad. I am hoping it works when it dries out. The clothes in the panniers were also soaked, of course. I just stripped and dumped everything on the tiled entryway so it wouldn't get the house wet. After drying off, I spread the contents of my wallet to dry, opened the cell phone back to aid drying and tried to stretch the cramps out of my legs.
Next time, accept a ride home in a car.