| Author | Message | ||
     L_je |
5pm today, and walking out to my bike in the parking lot... A coworker had just hopped on his bicycle when thump! A solitary chunk of ice seemed to drop from the nearly clear sky, overhead. That's weird... In the distance, to the East, the sky looks threatening, so I'm zipping up my 'Stich for the ride home. As I'm putting on my helmet, I happen to glance to the East, and Oh My God! There is a 60ft tall nearly-solid wall of hail moving towards me at approximately 50 mph! This thing looked like a wave of ice! When the wave hit, I was blown into my bike, and almost knocked it off the stand. A few seconds later, I noticed that the wind is starting to rock the bike off the stand, so I grabbed onto the handlebar and left grab bar, and leaned backwards with my back to the wind and hail. The worst of the hail probably passed through in 30 to 60 seconds. A lot of the hail was just about beercap-sized. Now I don't know what I was thinking, but in the middle of all of this, I threw a leg over my bike and decided to ride home in this stuff! It's like I was thinking "well, let's see where this storm is going..." well, duh, if that's not a stupid and dangerous mindset, I don't know what is? -lightning everywhere (thinking non-conductive thoughts, non-conductive thoughts...) -100 yard visibility through the hail -oncoming traffic in my lane? WTF? -sidestreets so covered in leaves/branches, that you could barely see any asphalt -twice I had to pull over, and let the heavier parts of the storm move ahead of me a bit -got to ride through 10" deep water/slushy puddles Don't worry about me, as I'm terminally stupid. But, what of my coworker on the bicycle? I don't know; I couldn't see him when I hit the main road. But don't worry too much, he's a former Army Ranger and tough as nails. Wow, I wish I could better describe that initial wall of hail. I have never seen anything like this in my life, nor heard of anything like this. It looked like a 60ft tall tidal wave of ice. Ok, so I got home in ten minutes, and not ten years, but whose counting? | ||
| Maximum |
I got caught in pea sized hail a few weeks ago, and that stung (even with my Olympia riding gear). So..."I feel your pain!"  | ||
| Sparky |
Written by Homer, as in the Iliad and the Odyssey or Homer Simpson?  No, just kidding. Epic weather always makes great adventure stories. Thanks for sharing. And to think, the first day of summer is one week away! What could possibly happen next? | ||
| L_je |
From my perspective, the Homer of Illiad fame. From the perspective of those watching me from the relative safety of the lobby, written and acted by Homer Simpson. -some quotes passed onto me from those in the lobby: -Q: "WTF is wrong with that guy?" -A: "Everything" | ||
| Snowscum |
What state did this happen? | ||
| L_je |
Marietta, Georgia We often have weather, but because of all the trees, you never really get a chance to see it closing in, like you would out in the midwest or west. | ||
| Chadhargis |
At least the Uly doesn't have any metal to ding. | ||
| Etennuly |
Sounds like TRUE adventure riding to me! I have ridden in a hail and gully washer storm on the Blue Ridge Parkway. That lightning really does make you think the end could be near, yet while riding in it it seems so surreal. | ||
| Snowscum |
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3965395 That was last summer. It left a crater in the road. Lightning around here is pretty scary. |
