steelbikeguy

I was riding from the Chain of Rocks Bridge (across the Mississippi, near St. Louis) and heading for downtown and the Arch.....
It was a hot, humid, and sunny day, with the temperature around 91F at 1pm. Large clouds loomed overhead, suggesting at the water they were waiting to dump onto cyclists.

getting onto the bridge:



The sprinkles started by the time I was at the west end of the bridge, so I put my phone and stuff in the Carradice bag, figuring that would keep things dry.
A few miles further, things were clearly getting ugly, so after getting out the rain jacket and helmet cover, I took a quick photo of the conditions:



The weather lately has been prone to quick summer showers. Storms clouds pop up, dump a lot of rain briefly, and then move on.
I just figured this was one of those.
Well, in true summer storm fashion, it hit quickly with a lot of lightning and thunder and torrents of rain.
On the plus side, there were plenty of tall metal structures that were going to get hit before I was. My main concern was the rapidly pooling water that was hiding the trail surface under a couple of inches of water. I suppose I should have turned around, but I still thought it was blow over.
I didn't find any shelter until I was within a mile or two of downtown, where I stopped under the I-70 bridge. After 30 minutes, the intensity of the rain decreased to the point where it was closer to normal rain and the lightning had mostly stopped.
Skirting the flooded parts of the trail and mixing with afternoon downtown traffic, I did get down to the Arch. The museum had an entry with some shelter and a glass roof, providing a chance to get out of the rain and a view of the Arch. Perfect for taking a couple of photos!







The ride back to the Chain of Rocks Bridge was under modest rain, and it stopped when I got back to my car.
I was able to change out of the bike clothes, put on some dry socks (which I had packed in case of rain), and packed up the bike.
The car's thermometer said it was 75F, so definitely cooler than it had been, but not bad. There was still some rain on the way back to Peoria, but nothing like I'd seen in St. Louis.
Not a great ride, but perhaps memorable.

Steve in Peoria

bikingshearer 

Kind of makes the lunch stop unnecessary.

thumpism 

This week's display, part of an aphorism; "Progress is like..." Etc.

DQRider 

Decommissioned Swing Bridge on the Mississippi River, Inver Grove Heights, MN
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Bianchi84

Unca_Sam

An Ecto-1 tribute with a "slimer green" Bianchi!

fooferdoggie 

Addis headquarters.

thumpism 

Adidas?!?

Cool tandem.

fooferdoggie 

I can ride I cant spell

Deal4Fuji

Labor Day group ride to civil war battleground at Bentonville NC

BoltBreaker

steelbikeguy

I think I mentioned that I was down in St. Louis and managed to ride directly into a very nasty storm.
What I didn't mention was that the main reason to go down there was to see an enormous steam locomotive that had been restored about a year or so ago. This was the Union Pacific Big Boy, #4014. There were just a handful of these made, and were sort of the ultimate steam locomotive. It is so long that the frame is articulated to allow it to get around bends, and it has two sets of four driving wheels on each side. It was making a tour of the south-central USA and was passing through St. Louis, so I figured I should go see it.

I found a nice little bridge that went over the tracks. The plan was to get a shot of it going underneath and then head 7 miles west to Pacific, MO, where it was supposed to be stopped for a half hour. Well, I got to the bridge an hour early and was surprised to find a dozen folks already there! More showed up, but I did get some nice shots.....


I also took a video of this...

Leaving the bridge and heading to Pacific, the traffic managed to come to a halt within a mile or so. Things crawled, stop and go. Figuring this didn't bode well for being able to park in Pacific, I was able to park outside of Pacific at a little park, pull out the bike, and ride into town!! The train was moving slowly, but I did get a few photos. Being able to travel from block to block on the bike was quite useful.


It was a fun time, overall. I had no idea that there were so many railroad enthusiasts who had nothing else to do on a Monday morning.

Steve in Peoria

northbend 

Not often you see something like this by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Nwvlvtnr

HMS Surprise featured in the Russel Crowe film “Master and Commander”

thumpism 

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ferroequinologist

Saw that on a bumper sticker yesterday. Think iron+horse.

steelbikeguy

that reminds me... I had the pleasure of watching the Iron Horse Classic bike race in Durango, Colorado in 1982. Very neat event, and it was named after the small gauge railroad that runs from Durango to Silverton. The race drew some of the biggest names, even if I didn't appreciate who they all were. I did recognize Connie Carpenter, since there just aren't that many gals racing who wear a long red braided ponytail (if memory serves). Jock Boyer was there too, often at the front.

a shot from the crit race in Durango:


....and a shot from the stage that went from Durango to Silverton. A buddy was in the race, and I was just taking photos along the race route.


Steve in Peoria

etherhuffer 

9AM Seattle waterfront. Guy on inflatable raft with a cooler of hooch, bombed out of his mind, declining a tow from Seattle FD. He finally took the line….

etherhuffer 

North of Seattle waterfront. Lesson: Do not anchor a full keel boat in shallow water at high tide.
Ok

WGB

Assuming this homeowner has a licence to grow? Ordinary Canadians can have 4 per household.....

steelbikeguy

that is interesting! I've wondered how a legal operation would protect the crop from folks passing by.


Here in Illinois, we've just got farms raising hemp, but it still looks rather suspicious. Honestly, I'm not sure what the legality of growing the smokable stuff is.


Steve in Peoria

WGB

steelbikeguy Here for a commercial op, they are supposed to have a licence and to get the licence they have to have a security setup that it approved by inspectors.
I talked to some locals who suggested that this particular operation is not licenced and is guarded by the local neighborhood watch who ride big Harleys and wear "colours" hopefully that is not true here.........

fooferdoggie 

it has to be hemp. because otherwise all of it would get stolen.

steelbikeguy

that was my conclusion too... I imagine that places that are growing the valuable stuff legally are doing it indoors, or at least behind a couple of layers of fences topped with razor wire.

Steve in Peoria

fooferdoggie 

even here in oregon you could not get away with open growing. idiots that don't know better steal hemp.

DQRider 

Rode down to Harriet Island after work last night to take a cruise on the "Anson Northrup" riverboat. I met my wife Amy there, and we embarked on the "Sunset Dinner Cruise". This first shot was taken through a slightly dirty porthole, aft:



The sun sank below the bluffs before there was any dramatic color in the sky, so those photos suck. But coming back in darkness, standing on the bow (King of the World!), I shot a few psychedelics:









These were in-sequence, obviously, and timed exposures. I braced against the rail to shoot the shots with the flagpole "goalposts", so those remain in-focus while the background goes all blurry. Then things got more colorful as the evening progressed.
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