In the Southwest, the Monsoon has officially began. So, although I usually keep an eye on the weather when I ride, I have to shift it into high gear now; not just on a daily basis, sometimes even hourly! A departure time difference of just 5 minutes, can make a huge difference!
So the second thing I do after waking up on a work night... is check the weather! Drat! The fourth thing I do, is walk outside to look at the conditions. Double Drat!
Thunderstorms are looming all around the area, although not yet raining where I am at, I can see a squall line to the North, moving SSW. A review of the radar again, I estimate I have 20 minutes to get ready and on the road, in order to beat this and get to work.
I accomplish this task in less than 20 minutes and think to myself, "Bonus time!"
I have about a ten minute commute. The ride was nice, as traffic was light, there was a light breeze coming from the NNE... outflow winds. I could see the rain off to the East, I was going to make it without a single drop of rain!
As I turned North, the wind calmed... I thought to myself, "Uh oh..." So I started to replay in my mind the route I was on. Where were the shelter points? A place to pull off and seek cover... like covered parking, gas stations that have canopies, etc.
Then wind began to pick-up, now coming from the West, almost a complete reversal... uplift winds. Then I saw the flash and heard the crack of thunder a few seconds later... I said to myself, "Oh shit!" I now only had three shelter points, and one of them was arriving at work!
As I approached an intersection, about one mile away from work, the temperature suddenly dropped! And I mean it went from 100+ to the 80's in seconds... I actually felt the chills! Then suddenly, about 500 feet in front of me, everything turned white, except for the faint cherry red dots of brake lights coming on... there ahead of me, was my last shelter point before work. I changed lanes. My fear was the "white" I was seeing was hail.
Less than 50 feet from entering the driveway...
Whomp!
Not hail, but rain. Torrential, all encompassing, instantly soaking. It was like standing under a 30,000 gallon pool suspended in the air, and the bottom broke out! I lost sight of the driveway for a moment even.
Needless to say, I did not make it to my shelter... I was instantly soaked. And since I wasn't wearing rain gear... I mean soaked! I pulled under the canopy of a gas station, pulled up to that center island store, and parked. The noise was deafening! I watched as the rain hit the ground, seemingly bounce and splash up! The din of it hitting the roof... the roar of it hitting the asphalt...
Less than a minute elapsed, and it just stopped! Now just a gentle sprinkle of rain, that probably would evaporate off of clothing in less than 20 feet of riding... the kind that you don't even have to turn a car's windshield wipers on for...
Then I thought to myself, "Holy $^(%!" I just rode in a microburst!!
I walked to the NE corner... a brief break ahead, I even saw blue sky. I grabbed my a towel out of my saddle bag, wiped down my bike (seat, tank, areas that would throw off even more water at me), fired up, and scooted!
I got to work with 30+ minutes to spare. So I had a chance to recover. I walked in, turned to go to a specific Unit I thought I could sneak into, grab some towels, and beeline it to a Staff bathroom to attempt to dry off a bit... no such luck! I walk into the Unit and there was a co-worker who started to smile, which turned into laughter, as they said, "You look like a wet cat that just jumped out of a bathtub!"
I smiled, grabbed some towels off the linen cart and headed on my way. A few minutes later as I came out looking a tad more presentable, if one can ever accomplish this with "clingy" scrubs... I saw a towel on the floor next to the linen cart. Apparently, in the few seconds I stood there, I left a puddle!
Later that night, as I was relating my experience to another co-worker... all I could think about was the poor housekeeper called to mop the wet floors. Arriving at the entrance I used, starting to mop, following a trail of water... it reminded me of the Pixar movie "Wall-E" and that little sweeper robot that followed Wall-E all around trying to sweep up the "contamination!"
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