The past week has been a blur. It started well enough with an awesome dirt road ride last Wednesday, then we started getting nightly thunderstorms and things went pear shaped.
The thunderstorms weren’t your run of the mill summertime thundershowers, they were all night downpours that resulted in massive flooding in the Isabella Country area. Roads were covered with flash floods, homes were flooded, cars abandoned and destroyed, and massive sections of paved roads were washed away. It was real Old Testament, wrath of God types stuff (as the old Ghostbusters line goes). We were lucky and escaped any flooding of the Cul-de-Sac Shack, but with multiple days of closed roads, flooding, and chaos out on the roads, I was pretty housebound.
I did manage to force myself to do some lackluster, please raise my pecs from my waistband, indoor workouts, but they were nothing I’m all that proud of. Then on Saturday morning I drove up to MMCC and photographed the Sweat Shaker XC race. I got some nice shots, and even manage to sell a few already, but there was no riding for me. You can see the gallery on my Smugmug page.
By the time I got home from the race on Saturday more thunderstorms were moving in and making for another round of closed roads. F!! With more roads covered and washed away I spent my entire Sunday processing the aforementioned photos and drinking way too much beer.
Finally on Tuesday, (or today, depending on what day you’re reading this) I got out for a ride on the PrOcal. Knowing that the roads were going to be a mess of ruts, washouts, silt, and sand, I opted for the wider 2.3 tires of the PrOcal. I was hoping to avoid any water covered roads, but that was a pipe dream, and in less than 4 miles I found myself confronted with a flooded road. I contemplated turning around, but it looked like it couldn’t be that deep, so I covered up the camera, hoped for the best, and started slowly rolling through the chilly water.
Unlike the last time I attempted to forge through a flooded road (and ended up walking with water up to my crotchial region), this time I made it through without stopping and water getting no deeper that around my bottom bracket.
Thankfully that was the last of the water I would have to deal with and would have 25 more miles to dry my feet and enjoy finally getting out on my bike. Hoping for a break from the rain for a bit, and getting the chance to find some sort or routine with riding and not continuing my mental and physical downward spiral into nothingness. Or at leas just get some riding in.
Later.