tigat

I left work last night at 5 or so, looking forward to my commute home. The fates had aligned to make my past three rides down wind. With a storm moving in, I was hoping for four in a row.

No such luck. A half mile out of downtown, the big raindrops turned into bigger ones, with a headwind and hail added to the mix. I waited beneath an underpass for the storm to abate.

When I finally headed out, I ran into detours, and then flooded city streets, up to the hubs in some cases. Fighting the current in a river that wasn't there a half hour earlier is a bike handling skill that I have not practiced enough.

Back on the MUP, I make it about 5 more miles when poof, my back tire flats. My life line is out at a meeting, so it's change that sucker one handed or walk 10 miles. Fifteen minutes later, I'm up and running. Two miles from home, my tire pressure is down to just barely there. I must have missed whatever caused the first flat when I was inspecting the tire in the dark.

I arrived home an hour late, soaking wet, with a ton of clean up to do on my bike.

I'm looking forward to this morning's commute.

qcpmsame 

So, how's the weather up in Colorado?

Biker395 

I call BS without video.

OldsCOOL

Dang. Hail? Riding in hail?? You get the Mr Hardcore award on the day.

tigat

I knew somebody was going to say that and even thought about it while I was surfing through the stream, but my phone was tucked in my backpack. You'll have to trust me.

BobbyG

Glad you made it home safely; a swift current can be deadly.

berner

We are getting that sort of weather right now and it will continue for the entire week. I mounted the bike on the trainer this morning but only managed 15 minutes before my brain seized in boredom.

Biker395 

Lol.

I've had the lovely tip-tap of hail on my helmet ... filling the ventilation holes. But I've never had to ford hubcap-high moving water like that. They don't teach those skilz in bike handling school.

Badass that you made it though.

Carbonfiberboy 

Just another reason we wear helmets. I've also found it very difficult to ride in water deep enough to submerge my feet.

David Bierbaum

You were one piece of flostam from being swept away downstream in that flooded area. flash flood currents are extremely dangerous. I'm glad you got home safe. Unless you caught a cold from all that, or got an infection in a scrape or scratch on your leg...

Rick@OCRR

A great (and inspirational) commuting report!

And I thought I had a bad day when the Metro train wasn't running on Friday and I had to ride all the way to work (yeah, only 19 miles, but whatever) and then had a flat on the way home . . . all in beautiful weather. All that was peanuts compared to what you went through!

Rick / OCRR

Squeeze

No video here either, but I can vouch for the OP's story. I also left work around 5:00 in the southern part of the Denver metro area and got POUNDED with hail. I was able to duck under a roof at a restroom in a park near some athletic fields and wait it out. Often I carry a camera in my rack bag but didn't have it with me yesterday, and I don't know how to get pics out of my old flip-phone, so I didn't bother taking any low-resolution pictures with that.

But it happened!

KenshiBiker

Changing a tire one handed . . . in 15 minutes. Yup, definitely badass .

ColaJacket

Agreed. Next time the water is that high, turn around (don't drown). Riding in flood waters is incredibly dangerous, as only a few inches of water (depending upon speed) can make you lose your balance and sweep you downstream. And once it gets a few inches deep, it's hard to tell if it goes deeper.

Also, if it's up to the hub of your wheels, then your BB is probably partially submerged, and that much water is not good for a BB (or the hubs). Better keep an eye on the bearings on both of those.

GH

SloButWide 

I don't 'cause I've lived in Colorado. In one two hour period it went from blue skies to light rain, torrential rain and nearby lightning, then finished with quarter-sized hail and light rain. Two hours later it was blue skies again. Springtime in the Rockies...