over the raging river

i'm thankful i'm not out on my bike right now. it's pouring rain and there are flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder every few seconds. my ems pager just went off. two roads to the south are closed due to high water. one of them is the road i turned around at. (see below.) i'll leave the roads to the cars for now.

i did get a few miles in on cato about an hour ago. i woke up at 5:45 and it wasn't raining, so i pulled on my freshly-washed jersey and a pair of shorts and headed south. i went that particular direction for only one reason: i wanted to see what the river was up to. the chicaskia river which crosses under argonia road about a mile south of the city limits is normaly an ankle-deep, tame-as-can-be waterway. when it rains like it has over the past 12 to 15 hours, it becomes an over-your-head, raging monster. crossing the bridge on my bike, it was the devourer i saw, not the ankle-biter.

i rode on to 30th street south before turning around and heading back toward town. i passed over the river a second time and rode up the rise that turns argonia road into main street. a quick journey through town brought me back to u.s. 160.

i turned west onto the highway and rode around the correction curves and over the river again near the harper-sumner county line. the same mad currents were rushing under the bridge there. i continued on to n.e. 120th avenue and decided i wouldn't have time to ride up drouhard hill and make it back to town in time for swim team practice, so i turned around.

about two miles out, i looked at the puddles on a side road and saw the telltale ripples that indicate rain. soon it was obvious that i was going to end this morning's ride a bit wet. the drops got bigger and bigger. they grew closer and closer together. soon i was being smacked in the face constantly by the windblown precipitation.

i picked up my pace a bit and made it in to my driveway before it really let loose.

i walked over to the pool for swim team practice after changing into street shoes and pulling on a pair of shorts. we got about 20 minutes in before the lightning started and we had to pull the kids out of the pool.

i jogged home and stepped through my front door just as the really serious downpour began. i'm dry and warm now. i think i'll go take a shower and get ready for the day. (11.86 miles @ 15.6mph)