Dark and Wet

By Allan Edmonds

Thirteen OWLS debated among themselves whether to do the planned route, do a shorter route, or jump ship altogether, given the questionable skies and weather forecast. Eventually we decided to do the planned 26 mile Triple Creek Ride, originally designed by former club member Al Abbott (now retired and living in Arizona, and by all accounts primarily doing mountain biking). That led to our uncharacteristically late departure at 5:48 PM.

All went well as we headed out to Kerr Creek off of 46 (= East Third Street) just east of 446. We sailed down into the valley along Kerr Creek, then turned up along Getty's Creek, stopping briefly at the new bridge where we joined up with Mount Gilead Road. We next stopped at the church on Brummett's Creek Road, near Unionville.

It was time to start heading back toward town and the sky in that direction did not look good. But there was nothing to be done but set out. Soon it was thundering and raining and we naturally had to slow down a bit, especially on the down hills. Those who had rear flashers or headlights along all turned them on.

Before long we were pretty well soaked. Suffice to say we were not hot. Pretty soon we had to climb Fleener, one of the steepest climbs around. As Dave remarked he was never before so comfortably cool after climbing Fleener. There was a near problem when one rider tried to stand up on the pedals and had his rear tire slide out from under him. and then when he put out a foot that slid out too. He barely missed me, and I was able to continue riding. But four bikes behind were forced to stop mid hill, and they all had much trouble trying to get started again.

Several people wisely opted to walk down one of steeper down hills since their wet brakes seemed unreliable and the wet road was very slippery.

By the time we were back to the top of Kerr Creek Road the rain was pretty much over, and I began to feel better and safer. In due course we all made it home safely, with an average close to 13 mph over 26 miles, after one of the more memorable rides of the year.

P.S. Reports are that the FOWLS cut their planned 30 mile ride short and were back to Cascades Park before they, too, got wet.