Monday, July 18, 2011

perfect sunny summer bike ride, and then the mega-rain arrived


Montreal from across the St-Laurence river on the Voie Maritime (Seaway) bike path




Almost home, but we dawdled at the biosphere, and got caught in mega rain.


What a beautiful day for a bike ride.

Summer sunshine perfection.

And then came the mega rain orage severe thunderstorm - this rain can't bring us down, but after 30 minutes of standing under a tree and the rain and wind get stronger and fiercer and finally we realized that if we wanted this mega rain to stop, we had to start riding our bike. So we got on the bike, rode through rivers of water, and within 5 minutes the rain stopped. Woohoo!

We went for a ride along the Voie Maritime/Seaway to St-Catherine on the south shore for mid-ride ice cream. The recreoparc at the west end of the Voie Maritime path is making a few improvements. This is one of the most scenic spots in Montreal. This is not just recommended: it's mandatory.

This is a wild riverside bike path with no civilization for miles and miles.



The rain arrived and got worse fast. Much worse. Much, much, much worse.

Update:
So the rain took out our bike pretty good. It fucked up the headset bearings, loosened the handlebar tape, and loosened BOTH spd cleats under our shoes. Also the spot we were standing had some recently disposed gum, and that entered our SPDs. Yuck.

We don't mind rain, but the collateral damage is hard to ignore.

1 Comments:

At 8:42 AM, Blogger David R. Litwin said...

On your advice, I rode yester-day along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Indeed, it was beautiful! But then dusk fell. And out came the bugs. Ten kilometres of being rained on by bugs. I couldn't ride with an open mouth (I would have chocked on the bugs), I had to squint (lest my eyes become blinded by bugs), I couldn't go fast (lest I need to ride with my mouth open and want to see where I was going) and a friendly spider was trying to make a web on my handlebars simultaneously! One gentleman I passed was smart: he had a handkerchief and glasses on to protect himself. By the time I got to the ice bridge, I was so covered in bugs I had to remove my helmet and shirt, that I might shake them out. I only got the bugs out of my eyes when I got home.

Still, the ride was beautiful and I look forward to doing it again. Rather earlier in the day.

 

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