What a day!

I started out by adjusting my shifters...the cable for the rear derailleur has stretched. I fiddled with it until it SEEMED like the gears all shifted as they were supposed to. The I took it to my LBS to have those stupid clanking pedals replaced. My LBS had just moved--they were still in the process of moving in--to a place way across town. But they got my pedals replaced, and the mechanic also adjusted my brakes and stuff for free.

I got home just in time to commute, taking the long way. It was 90 degrees, and I had a major headwind, and had to keep stopping to fiddle with derailleur adjustments but got to work in time for a quick meal and change.

When it was time to go home, it was still hot...and everything had gone black. There was thunder and lightening. Jim and Dan, the brothers who clean the library (and do all the city's maintenance work) offered me a ride home. But I decided to race the storm. Made a joke about Miss Gulch biking in the twister in Wizard of Oz. But anyway, it didn't look as bad as all that.

The lightening on the way home was spectacular! Two miles from Seymour it started raining on me, but it wasn't very heavy--just sprinkling. For once, the wind hadn't changed, and was blowing me home at high speeds. There was a surprising lot of traffic, including an electric company cherry-picker truck, probably out to fix blown-down lines somewhere.I believed I would make it home, no problem.

Then the rain stopped again. And the wind stopped.

And a black cat crossed my path. (Honest!)

Around two miles from home, the rain started again. There was a horrible howl in the trees, and a wind came up that made my tires slide on the pavement. I could see someone coming up behind me in my rear view mirror. Then I heard their tires screech. They were still about a mile away, but I knew it wasn't safe to be on the road with anyone driving fast enough to make a sound like that in this weather! I got off the road....and they whizzed by at about 60mph, so close I could have touched them. I don't think they ever even saw me. Glad I got off the road.

Shortly afterward, I got off the highway onto my back roads. I was about a mile and a quarter from home when the wind increased, and I had to get off the bike--it wasn't safe to be on it any more. The wind blew the rain so hard it hurt when it hit. I was at a field, between two farm houses. The one behind me was a little closer and (thank heaven) was lighted up, so I made a run for it.

They saw me coming and turned on the yard light. They got my bike stowed in their garage, and got me wrapped in a towel sipping tea. (And suggested I should get a stationary bike for exercise and ride the car to work--ha!
) It turned out that there was a tornado warning in my county! Not to mention the obvious severe thunderstrom warnings.

Anyway, I called my dad to come get me. There were branches down and garbage barrels blowing across the roads. Cool.

So, I'm home and fairly wet, and my bike is a mile and a half away in someone else's garage, where I will pick it up tomorrow.

Hope it doesn't get lonely!