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At that time, I was riding my trailbike with a set of 2" road slicks on it to make pedalling easier and let me go much faster on the road.
I left work at about 3-30pm in the afternoon and as I wheeled the bike out of the gate, I noticed that the thunderheads were building up to the south-west. I thought that with some luck, I could maybe beat the approaching storm home.
I was wearing a pair of nicks and a T-shirt, a helmet and sunnies.
Well, I only got about a quarter of the way home, and as it was getting darker and darker every second with the approach of the heavy grey clouds, it looked like I was going to get wet.
Sure enough, within about 5 minutes, it started to rain big cold and very wet drops from the clouds above. I was soaked to the skin in a matter of seconds.
As the storm caught up to me properly, the sky darkened even more, and all the cars had their headlights on. The rain was so heavy by now, that the roads were awash, the gutters overflowing, wind gusts were violent and I could only see about 10-20 yards ahead.
The traffic on the highway slowed to a crawl, as the rain really came down in earnest. Lightning, thunderclaps, strong wind gusts, and me on a mountain bike with slicks right in the middle of it.
I was contemplating pulling over to take cover, when I suddenly realised that I was really enjoying myself.
Sliding and skating along the highway pedalling hard, dodging cars, trucks and buses in the gloom and rain, being blown across two lanes of crawling traffic in the strong gusts, I was really pumped up...I felt as if I was truly alive, adrenalin pouring through my veins like a drug.
I sang out aloud, laughed and talked to myself, I felt as if I was indestructible, my legs pumped the pedals, I spun through the rain like some crazy madman possessed with huge strength and agility, screaming and laughing crazily as I half floated, half steered the sliding aquaplaning machine through the deep puddles and rivers of water that washed across the road.
Lightning flashed all around me, the thunderclaps following immediately, I was in the very heart of the storm, held by it, empowered by the raw energy that it unleashed into me, I was flying along in the interface between earth and sky, aquaplaning across and along a razor's edge of water, ice and clouds.
I could do no wrong, everything felt right with me, my reactions were like the lightning flashes, quick and sure. I didn't think, I reacted, Zen-like. Huge slides were handled with ease, my legs never stopped pumping, I forced the bike onwards as fast as I could go, thumbs working the shifters through the gears smoothly, surrounded by the violence of the storm which seemed to enclose me in a huge grey cocoon of noise and light, the water spraying off the slicks making two rooster-tails to mark my path.
Drifting, sliding, half in control and half out, I was totally absorbed in the task, the miles flew by under the slicks quickly, I felt strong and confident, nothing could touch me, I overtook cars as they crawled along, my laughter the only thing they heard from me as I left them in my streaming wake..
I felt like I could do anything, I raged through the stormy evening like a god on two wheels...it was wonderful..truly wonderful..
When I finally reached my home, the storm was passing over, and it released me from it's grasp reluctantly. I stopped the bike outside my house, and stood looking at the leaden sky. Huge flashes of forked lightning marked the storms' tail, as it drifted slowly towards the north-east.
I was covered in road-grime, absolutely filthy, water streaming from me and the bike, I had a gritty mouth from yelling and singing, my eyes were bloodshot and sore. My fingers were bleeding from the hail and partly numb from holding the grips so tightly. I was shivering, shaking all over, not so much from the cold, but more from the adrenalin that was still streaming through my veins.
I went in and hosed the bike down, then got into a hot shower. The whole front of my body was covered in a red rash from the violence of the rain and pieces of hail hitting me through my light clothing.
That ride was the most exciting experience I have ever had on the road. I will never forget it as long as I live, and can 'see' and 'feel' it just like it happened yesterday. It was an incredible and uplifting ride through the heart of a violent storm that left me totally exhausted, but with a memory that I will treasure forever.
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