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Thursday, October 20, 2011

I Rode My Bike Home In a Thunderstorm


I couldn't actually hear the thunder but the lightening was visible and striking. I had just finished my workout at my gym on the other side of town when I stepped outside to see heavy rain.

Rain in the Philies is intense. In the NW I've seen some rain and know the general idea but here the rain goes a step further. The time it takes you to go from dry to absolutely soaked is less than thirty seconds. That's exactly what happened to me.

After surveying the rain and seeing the locals clinging to the edges of the building I was in, I asked a restaurant staff for a trash bag. I put all of my belongings that were loose in the bag and did a quick tie off, putting it back into my pack. With my things protected and my helmet on, I stepped into the road and into the rain.

Moments later I was drenched. The rain was so bad that I had to remove my glasses as rain just steamed across my vision. Even without my glasses I could barely see as rain pelted my eyeballs, I was squinting my very best.

The ride started slow, as I couldn't see much, but I still passed people in vehicles. I'd slow down for flooded streets and some were so bad that at the bottom of every pedal my feet would be submerged. This didn't amount to too much trouble except on the roads with potholes, that was where I'd drop into water at my ankles while trying to right myself from the surprise.

Overall the ride was fun but it did come at a cost. I hadn't realized I had my laptop charger in my backpack and I found it at the bottom of my bag in a pool of water(my backpack actually held water). I almost knew for certain it was a goner but tried to dry it as best I could, swinging it to get water water out and hanging it to dry. Just today I bought its replacement, RIP.

That's biking in the storm for you.

2 comments:

  1. Bury it in rice. Rice will absorb moisture. Your charger will be working fine in no time.

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  2. I thought to do that but was stopped by a couple issues. First I didn't want to try and explain to my host family why I need a small sack of dry rice. I just "knew" it would be awkward, so I was debilitated by my self in that way.

    Second I tried to use it after it got wet. I had hoped a few days drying out would do the trick but since I hadn't put it in the rice, I done messed it up. I've not tried it since, but it could actually be usable by now but I assume the wet retry shorted it out for good.

    Here's the point. If you want to save yourself 460 PHP, bury your wet charger in rice. Or, pay the price.

    ReplyDelete