Monday commute to work.

I woke up at 3:45 to ride with the wife to her work. Our 1990 olds needs brakes so it is a good excuse to ride and save up the money to get it fixed. I was back home super-early and made some meaty coffee and had breakfast. It had been a while since I rode into work and I was ready for it. I decided on riding the Surly Crosscheck so I could get it dialed in with the new saddle and riding position. I was off and riding by 5:40 am and I felt good. I rode on the Great Western Trail and it felt great to be riding and thinking that I would save aproximately 12 dollars in gas and tolls.
I almost made it to Wasco when I turn around and during this whole time a major storm had been brewing behind my back. What a bitch I thought. The idea of all these changes that were to happen did not sink in right away. The sun went away, it turned to night and the temps dropped to cold.
I made it to a coffee shop and took shelter. 1 hour later I was back on the bike and now riding thru pudding like gravel and getting wet. I started to dry slowly once on the road and I was looking foward to continuing my commute. I was midway through Fermi lab when I look back and another wave of storms is approaching. There was a LOT of lightning and I could hear the wifeys voice telling me to get off the road. Open field, steel bike= Bad Idea.
I was wet again and made it to a gas station. By now I was soaked again and could not go in the quickmart since the air conditioning was on full blast. I sat under the shelter from the gas pumps and watched all the people coming and going. The amount of crap they they bought for breakfast was amazing. Gallons and gallons of pop in the early morning, Hot dogs, doughnuts. I was truly shocked.
Two hours later I roll out, yes two hours of lightning. Get back on track and realize it is fuckin super late. The search party is probably out at the shop and I have a ton of shit to do. I made it to the shop over 6 hours after I left the house.
At 6:40 pm I roll out and am heading home. I make it to Warrenville and the sirens are going off like crazy. I go to the fire station and the fireman tells me there is a tornado warning. I go to another gas station and endure another 2 hours of hanging out. The power goes off , the power comes on, the power goes off and so on. I am pissed and tired. I guzzle some pepsi and eat my food.
I figure to make it to Geneva so I can get a lift from my father in law. After transversing Fermi in the pitch black I make it to his work and everyone is gone. At this point it is almost 10 pm.
This feeling of serenity overtakes me and I know I have to go all the way home by my means. I felt lucky to not have a cell phone.
I get on the Great Western Trail and it is a swamp. It is flooded and there is downed trees all the length of almost 20 miles. I ride, I dismount, I ride and dismount. Over and over again. I shove myself through downed trees while dragging the Surly like a dead animal. There is so many downed trees that I start thinking I will get home and there willl be no home. Over two hours later I make to the other end after taking a fast fall on some slimy limestone. I slide for about 25 feet and I can feel the little rocks grind my hip area.
I am out of the trail and keep thinking about the bats the followed me, the flashes of light high up in the air. The cobwebs around the whole front of my bike. The saddle did not matter, the length of my stem was unimportant, nothing mattered at that point. I had had the best ride in a long while. I was so high I was not tired.
I drank my hammer nutrition Recoverite, ate some food and hit the shower. I stayed awake until 2 am and then slept like a downed tree.
out,
Ari