0 comment Tuesday, September 9, 2014 | admin
Karen called me at work at about 5:40 to tell me the skies looked pretty dark to the West, and that I ought to think about heading out of work ASAP if I wanted to beat the storm. I consulted with the great interweb service, weather.com, which informed me that at 6:30, the region would be pummeled by thunderstorms, preceded by light rain. I got my stuff, computer included, and headed out the door, intent to beat the weather, and planning on finishing final emails of the day from home.
Wheeling out of the new bike cage (yes! my building put in a new Dero rack, and built a bike cage around it one day while my bike was parked there) the rain was light, as described by Weather.com, but that lasted all of a quarter block. The skies opened up and let loose. I commiserated with my fellow bike commuters on Connecticut (lots of us these days), and we agreed we had all made wise decisions, since it was only supposed to get worse in thirty minutes.
Hammered up the hill, storm worsening. Thunder peals and lightning flashes growing closer, starting at six "bananas" away, and nearing to three "bananas" away. I could feel water pouring off my bag and soaking my waistline, and simultaneously hoped the two pouches in between the exterior and my work MacBook would hold out another 10 minutes until I got home. I started tasting salt, and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I wasn't riding hard enough to sweat, they hadn't salted the roads since March, so that ruled out spray. Then it became clear, it was the built up salt from my helmets padding running down my face and into my mouth. This is why I don't share helmets, I could at least be sure it was my own former sweat.
I got home with the downpour slightly lessening. By the time I put the bike away, got the computer away from the wet bag, and took off my wet clothes for the illustrative picture below, the rain had lightened even more:
It's about as wet as I've gotten in quite a while, to the point where I could wring out socks and pantlegs.
All in all, I had a blast and enjoyed every second of my ride home. Not that I want this every day, but once in a while, it's great to get soaked unexpectedly.
Wheeling out of the new bike cage (yes! my building put in a new Dero rack, and built a bike cage around it one day while my bike was parked there) the rain was light, as described by Weather.com, but that lasted all of a quarter block. The skies opened up and let loose. I commiserated with my fellow bike commuters on Connecticut (lots of us these days), and we agreed we had all made wise decisions, since it was only supposed to get worse in thirty minutes.
Hammered up the hill, storm worsening. Thunder peals and lightning flashes growing closer, starting at six "bananas" away, and nearing to three "bananas" away. I could feel water pouring off my bag and soaking my waistline, and simultaneously hoped the two pouches in between the exterior and my work MacBook would hold out another 10 minutes until I got home. I started tasting salt, and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I wasn't riding hard enough to sweat, they hadn't salted the roads since March, so that ruled out spray. Then it became clear, it was the built up salt from my helmets padding running down my face and into my mouth. This is why I don't share helmets, I could at least be sure it was my own former sweat.
I got home with the downpour slightly lessening. By the time I put the bike away, got the computer away from the wet bag, and took off my wet clothes for the illustrative picture below, the rain had lightened even more:
It's about as wet as I've gotten in quite a while, to the point where I could wring out socks and pantlegs.
All in all, I had a blast and enjoyed every second of my ride home. Not that I want this every day, but once in a while, it's great to get soaked unexpectedly.
Labels: Rain