Ok, so this is a true story. Today, I rode my bike to work. It was a gorgeous morning and day despite the crazy thunderstorms that we had last night that started at around 3am and woke everyone and their mother up. But I digress… I had plans to meet up with my friends John and Marianne for dinner to celebrate John’s birthday, so I scooted out of lab to make sure I had time enough to shower and get ready to go. I get on my bike and 0.94 miles later the sky turns really really dark gray and the sky literally explodes. It felt like hail was coming down on me. I had on shorts and a T-shirt and was getting absolutely soaked. I started laughing… of course this would happen… and there was nothing I could do about it… so I laughed some more.
I made it to the part of Plantation Street where the Highway 290 crosses over… some relief from the rain. Under the bridge there is a steep incline, so there is really only about a foot and a half where you can stand. So, me and my bike hung out there. What I didn’t know was that all the water accumulated in the gutter areas under this bridge. The lane was very wide, so I don’t know why these TWO cars had to do this, but it was like a scene right out of a movie- you think it can’t get any worse then, whoosh, a car flies through the water on the side of the street and the person on the curb gets soaked. No joke… twice! Anyhow, eventually the hail-like-rain lightened up and I was able to bike the remaining 4.25 miles home in a light drizzle.
There is good and bad things that come from almost every experience. The bad experience for me today was the cars splashing icky street water all over me. But, there are several good things to glean from this experience.
1. I now know that my backpack is as waterproof as it claims
2. My windbreaker which does not claim to be wind-proof or water-proof is both
3. The insanely strong headwind going against me almost the entire way home made it a great workout
4. I now know that riding in a light-mild rain is really not all that bad (if you’re prepared)
2 comments:
Sounds very messy Michelle. I was on the church mower only seconds before it went off here.
Now that is some positive thinking...I don't even think Disney girl here would have been that positive! I am happy that you have such a good attitude towards the worse of days...ugh...rain like that would make me never go out!
mom
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