Mother Nature and Psycocross Baptism

I did a four-hour ride on the singlespeed yesterday. The forecast included a chance for rain, so I packed a rain jacket.

Just before my turn-around point, it started to sprinkle. Just after I turned around, it started to rain in ernest. I decided to push on through. Then, the brightest flash of lightning and loudest crash of thunder I have EVER heard exploded somewhere just over my head. The rain was coming down in buckets. I pulled over to put on my jacket and take off my glasses. Did I mention it was about 8pm, and dark. I was sporting LED and HID lights, but the rain and clouds combined to make vision an issue. After a few more crashes of thunder, the rain eased off a bit and eventually stopped.

Although the rain had ended, I could see lightning off in the distance. I put the hammer down to get home before the next cell rolled through. No such luck. More thunder, lightning and rain as I hit the one hour to go mark. I saw a couple of people sitting under an overpass, and I decided to stop and make sure they didn't need any help. This couple was in t-shirts and shorts, no helmets and no lights; something I see every day. However, in this case it turned out to be Neil Scharphorn and his wife! We hung out and talked until the rain let up. They I guided them back to their car.

I got home, ate some food, and went to sleep.

Woke up this morning to find that I had no electricity. I went out for breakfast--I knew I'd need the fuel for the Kiss Cross kick-off ride. I got to the start location an hour early, because I need to help set up the Slingshot DD-X I would be using for this ride. What a sweet bike! It was light and stable. It smoothed out the stutter bumps. It climbed like a champ--what more can I say? It was a very fun and effective bike, and one that I plan to add to my quiver as soon as the job situation gets resolved.

A bunch of people showed up for this ride, a couple dozen at least. Dan Jansen, Nate Versluis, Danielle Musto, Russ Tiles, half of the Priority Health road team; it was a who's who of Michigan racing. One guy in particular I was happy to see. We had a nice chat about steel, ti, Paragon drop-outs and the like. Are my days of using a converted singlespeed frame nearing an end? Could be...