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Rainy Days and Wednesdays

Most people stayed away from the Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society's Wednesday Night Ride. Maybe it had something to do with the fact there was a severe thunderstorm warning for St. Clair County!

But seven of us did show up at Eckert's Country Store for the ride, and we decided to go after hearing the warning was supposed to expire at 6:34 p.m. We figured since the storm hadn't arrived at 6:15, we were clear to go.

But a funny thing happened. The skies got darker and darker. With about five miles left in the ride, we started to see lightning in the distance. We knew the rain would come shortly, so we kicked in in a gear or two in the hopes of beating the rain.

While the faster guys, Brian Campbell, Steven Johnson, Bob Crow and Mike Gilchrist, were on pace to beat the rain, Dawn Peil, Sheila Biegler and I weren't quite sure we would make it. I didn't help that we were belted with a stiff headwind as we turned north on Old Freeburg Road with about three miles to go. The skies continued to get darker, but we were fortunate the motorists could see our reflectors and gave us plenty of room.

We thought we would beat the rain, but the sprinkles starting coming as we made the turn onto Green Mount Road with nine-tenths of a mile left the go. The sprinkles soon turned into a downpour. To their credit, the guys who had already made it back to Eckert's came out to pick us up. But the damage had been done. We were already wet.

But Bob Crow pulled up to the traffic light at Green Mount and Illinois 13-15 to make sure we would get the green light, then he pulled behind us to make sure we could safely make the turn back into Eckert's. If Bob had not driven up to the signal, who knows when we could have crossed the busy highway. For some reason, it is impossible for bicycles to trigger the signal. Maybe someday the Illinois Department of Transportation will fix the signal there because the road is frequently used as part of bicycle tours based at Eckert's.

Thanks, everyone, for watching out for us slowpokes!

Roger 0 comments 12:48 AM