I'm fascinated by weather. I love watching it roll in, change and roll out. It's probably the Midwesterner thing -- the weather plays a role in pretty much everything. And one day can be a 180-degree difference (not temperature, though) from the next.
So last night, as the radar images were blooming with all sorts of pretty colors, I was watching the sky as we rolled out. It was going to storm at some point, that was certain, but when and where was up for grabs.
We did know, though, that there was no way we were going to get the Wednesday Worlds route in. No way. So when it was time to turn farther north, with a wall of black in the way, I turned south along with four or five others. But others went north, and some even kept going east.
We kept the tempo high, knowing that if we couldn't get a long ride in, we could at least get a short, hard ride in. As we headed south on the Keystone, less than 10 minutes from the shop, the tornado sirens sounded.
Like any good rouleur, EO'B responded to my call to pin it. We were ripping down the trail, knowing we were perhaps seconds away from being forced to find cover. Right when we went under Western Ave., about a mile from the shop, we felt rain drops. And then they got bigger.
And then I almost got blown off my bike. Holy crap. A blast of cold wind, followed by rain threw us all over the trail as we got to the skate park. We jumped off the trail and headed for Crane Coffee, which was surprisingly still open. (I just figured a coffee place would close earlier. It's open until 10, by the way.)
We waited out the storm for what seemed like forever, checked in with all of the other riders to make sure they were safe and then, finally, made a dash for the shop. It was still wet, and still rumbling, but we made it.
And then we heard the rest of the stories. A few riders went downtown, for some reason, while others found a house and had to be picked up. And then I saw stories about the Bike Masters guys hiding behind a bush.
Kinda makes my coffee shop hiding spot seem like a palace, huh?
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