the Way of the Turtle

RAIN, THUNDER, & LIGHTNING
21.6 Mile Ride in Schenectady County
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Guess I should have gotten my backside in gear sooner, and maybe my ride today would have been finished before the storm moved in! As it was, I had good weather for about 45 minutes after leaving the car at the Lock 8 parking area. Headed down the mostly empty bike path and over onto some roads through Scotia, eventually coming out on Rt 5 right at the point where 890 ends. From there the plan was to ride down Rt 5 and cross the river at Rotterdam Junction, but the sight of lightning off in the distance caused me to revise that plan, and I headed back to the bike path and out towards Scafford Lane. For some reason, the thought of pedaling along the side of wide open road during a thunderstorm just didn't seem like a good idea...

I was most of the way to Scafford Lane when the storm hit... light rain at first, with lightning striking in the hills overlooking the river. Made it to the end of the path then headed back, which is when the skies really opened up with a good downpour. I very quickly was doing my best impression of a drowned rat. Pushed hard back through the Rotterdam Kiwanis Park and to the 890 overpass, where I sheltered for a while to see what the lightning was doing (the rain didn't look to be letting up, but my main concern was the lightning, since some of the sections of path between the overpass and Lock 8 run across open fields.) After a bit it looked like the lightning was easing off, so I headed for Lock 8, and as I was riding that last bit the storm moved off to the north and the sun came out behind me! (Too bad I didn't have my waterproof camera with me, I might have gotten some cool pictures.)

It was clear that not only wasn't it raining along the path to Schenectady, but it hadn't rained there while I was getting soaked. So I headed back down the path to SCCC, in hopes that the sun and air flow would dry me out at least a little bit. Almost pushed my luck too far, though, because as I was pulling back into the Lock 8 parking area, it started raining!

All in all, an interesting ride... the bike handled well in the rain, and truth be told, the rain was rather refreshing on a hot muggy day. But maybe next time we can skip the lightning... I'd much rather be watching that from safely indoors instead of from the back of a bicycle.

JMH