Cycling in a Hurricane

This morning I have Jimmy Buffett’s song “Feel Like Surfin’ in a Hurricane” stuck in my head.

I suspect that this is the case because:  (1) I like Jimmy Buffett, and often have one of his songs stuck in my head, and (2) I had a really fun & challenging  bike ride last night through the feeder bands of Tropical Storm Isaac.

Tropical Storm Isaac dropped a significant amount of rain and wind on Florida this past weekend. Northeast Florida, where I live, was largely spared from the effects.

I had planned to do about 30 miles yesterday afternoon.  To say the winds were significant yesterday is an understatement.  While I’m not a meteorologist, I’d guess that the sustained winds were probably 15mph with gusts into the mid-to-upper-20′s.  After having a really fun & productive day around the house, I decided that it would probably be beneficial to my training (as well as a little fun) to get out on the bike.

Here’s what the winds felt like:

Credit: telegraph.co.uk

Heading out, I was really hoping that I’d have a tail wind for part of the ride.  Um.  That’s not what Mother Nature had in mind for me.  I had a crossing wind for the entire ride.

So what’s a guy to do?  I hunkered down on my aero bars – tried to get as small as I could – and motored on.  Sure, I got blown around a little.  Yes, I got rained on for about half my ride.  I got honked at by cars (OK, in all honesty, it was my wife as she was running an errand). 

I had the time of my life!

It was so much fun to be out in challenging weather.  I’m sure that it will pay dividends at some point.

I returned home soaked to the core, with lots of dirt and road grime covering me.  As I put the bike away, it seemingly drained a gallon of water.

Perhaps I looked crazy out there on my bike.  There were no other cyclists on the road.  No joggers, either, for that matter.  Just me, the wind & the rain.  I don’t mind looking crazy.  There’s nothing like riding in a hurricane (or tropical storm)

TS Isaac is currently projected to head northwest across the Gulf of Mexico and make landfall somewhere not too far from New Orleans.  As you may have heard, this is the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina – which absolutely devastated the Gulf area.  Here’s hoping that the storm doesn’t gain too much strength and when it does ultimately come ashore that it doesn’t cause too many problems.  Thoughts and prayers for all in the path.