A (soggy) Mid-Spring Celebration Ride

The weather was threatening.  There were pop-up showers all around us.  So?

Four of us assembled in the “Fred” parking lot.  It was dry (kind of) there.

So Scott, Chris, Deb, and I decided to go for it.  We pushed off promptly at 7:30, pleased that it wasn’t actively raining.

By the time we’d gone a mile and a half, we were on wet pavement.  Another mile saw us riding into drizzle.  By the five mile mark we were on dry roads again.  (Hey!  This isn’t soo bad!)

Of course, as we moved eastward, we started seeing wet more roads.  By the time we crossed GA-85, it became apparent that we were catching up with the storm.  It was wet, and getting wetter.  But I had high hopes.  I knew our route would turn south, and I reasoned that we would be behind the storm, and it would move away from us.  (It could happen.)

As we moved forward, and each rider choose their moment to turn their lights on, the rain picked up.    We had just crossed Goza road when I heard it.  It’s a unique sound.  Not drizzle, but the sound that approaching rain makes as it falls on fresh Spring foliage.  I’ve learned to hear that sound as a warn.  I made a decision call, and we stopped briefly to pull on rain gear.  (Those of us who had it did.)  This turned out to be a really good move, as the rain came in earnest about two minutes later.

I was wondering if we were still catching up to the back of the retreating storm, of if we were advancing into a different kind of trouble.  I didn’t have long to speculate.

As we continued to ride, we started seeing flashes of lightening in the distance, and any hint of clearing sky above us just vanished.  More lightening.  Thunder.  Getting closer.  Decision time.

I made the call.  We turned toward Peachtree City, and abandoned the planned route.  As we continued south for a bit we could  see that we were advancing into a powerful and violent storm.  As Scott put it, “we were riding right into the mouth of the Beast.”

Fortunately, our “bailout” route turned back to the north and west, and we moved away from the storm.  By the time we were at the outskirts of Peachtree City again, we could still hear the rumbles, but they were behind us.  The roads were wet, but there was no more rain falling on us.  We arrived back at the finish point on dry roads.

That was a somewhat sodden and bedraggled crew standing there at the end of the ride.  Oddly, we were all smiling, laughing, and happy.  No, we didn’t go as far as we’d intended, but we did go.  More, we stayed safe, and we had us some fun doing it.

Now don’t you wish you’d been there too!