Marble-sized hail
 

Ever cycled in marble-sized hail?

Today was my first experience!! I can sum the experience up with two words: IT HURTS!!!

Ouch! Did you get caught by accident? Couldn't you find shelter? That sounds absolutely dreadful.

Well the storm came up from behind and rained, then rained a little harder, then started coming down in buckets ... I've ridden in rains like that several times, so no big deal, I just kept riding.

Then I went to move my arm, and it felt all stiff and numb ... and the rain had really started hurting by then, so I stopped to put my jacket on, and realized that I was being nailed with pea-sized hail, and it had collected in a sheet of ice all over me ... which was why my arms felt that way. Pea-sized hail and massive raindrops feel much the same.

As I was leaning over, buckling up my Carradice bag, a huge hailstone hit me in the back of the head ... and that's when I decided to seek shelter. As the marble-sized stuff started to come down, I dashed to some pine trees a little ways away to huddle under them and wait for it to pass.

When it finally cleared some time later, and I emerged ... the road was a white sheet of ice. It was amazing to see ... in JULY!

Mother nature rules once again......

Woah... I haven't experienced that yet. I know what its like to get hit by that stuff though, so I'd duck for cover too...

Yet another good reason to wear a helmet - I have too been in "large" hail and darn it, it hurts!

Sleet's cute though - like someone Up There cut open a beanbag chair hehe

You must live in Flagstaff Arizona to get hail that size in July!

There have been many days this year I've wished I lived in Flagstaff Arizona, but no ... I live in the Canadian prairies where it isn't at all uncommon to experience hail storms like this. "Funny" thing was the guy I was riding with was telling me about the marble-sized hail he rode in last Wednesday ... and about 20 minutes later the skies opened up to drop it again.

I rode in sleet last July in Manitoba ... somehow "cute" wasn't how I would have described it.

I have been caught by a hail storm. Too bad for me it was above tree line so there was no shelter. The helmet helps with the impact. But man... talk about an ice cream headache. The helmet vents allow the stones through and then they sit on your head.

The next week I bought a helmet cover.

Grew up and went to College in Flagstaff. Never got to ride in hail there though (although I had countless missed opportunities).

I DID however have the experience of riding in that kind of Hail riding alongside Tempe town lake in Tempe Az at the end of a Monsoon season and was attacked by marble size hail. About every 8 or 9th stone would find a vent in my helmet and give me a sharp knock on the noggin. Wouldn't you know it that the storm caught me after I had gone under the last overpass and the hail had passed by the time I found shelter. That storm was a doozy. Every car that passed me would send a wave of water over me as the standing water in the road was 6 inches deep until the storm was over. I showed up at my meeting completely soaked to the bone.