Company kept me off the bike Saturday but I decided to give it a shot Sunday after church. After looking at the radar I figured the only place that wouldn't be muddy was the forest and it looked like the rain heading that way was going to be light. I had all my electronics charged and just in case I stuffed a baggie in my camel back.
There were few cars at the trail head and no sign of any off road bikes. I talked to a gentleman who I had ridden with a couple of weeks ago who was on his road bike and had just gotten back from St. Marks he said they had ridden through some heavy rain and lightning.
The sand was packed on Paper Cup and I plugged my MP3 in as I made a left on Munson. I picked up the West Conn. and after a half mile it started to sprinkle. I could see the black cloud building to the West and the wind had picked up but no lightning or thunder. I turned right when I hit Twilight since I wasn't as confident in my weather predictions as I had been when I left the house and the rain started to get harder. Okay I thought, this is not a monsoon, if it gets any harder though I'll need to stop and put my music in the baggie. Well it got harder, a lot harder, so hard it hurt. I stuffed my keys and MP3 in the bag and pedaled on slowly. Sometimes these showers can be refreshing but not this one. The rain felt warm, and never really cooled me off.
After 20 minutes it stopped and the sun came out.
I've worked in the Florida woods my whole career and I'll admit I'm getting a little older but I don't remember ever being as hot as I was after that sun hit the ground. Everything I had on was soaked. Even moving it felt like I was riding under water in a hot bath, no make that a hot tub. I finished the North half of Twilight, rode across Munson onto Luge, turned right on Munson and looped back to the benches at the intersection of Munson, Short Cut, and Paper Cup. By this time I had cooled off a little so I rode Short Cut then left on Munson and back around again. I plugged the music back in and got in as much of a groove as I ever do. It's nice to ride the trail when it's packed like that.
At the end of 15.6 miles I was out of water and my fingers were pruned, and I could see another black cloud building in the West, so I headed back to the trail head. I told myself if somebody was there to ride with I'd fill up the camel back and go again. The parking lot was empty. I changed in the steaming hot sun, opened a cold Monster, then let the AC run. Welcome to the jungle!
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