Ridin'

It was hot and humid and the morning of blue sky was being displaced by the dark gray storm clouds moving in.  After checking the weather map on the internet, I knew there was a chance of being caught out in the middle of the parkway in a thunderstorm.

Jubal was excited about the trip and so was I, so we were not going to give up without trying.  We were planning a ride from our house to his friend's house for a birthday party.  Once I finally got the trail a bike attached to my road bike, we set out. 

We decided to ride to the top of the first hill, about 1.5 miles up the parkway and see what the storm was doing.  All the way up, we were staring into the heart of what appeared to be a big thunderstorm and it looked like it was headed our way.  At the top, he wanted to keep going so we did. 

We soft pedaled down the hill, crossing the train tracks, Sweeten Creek Road and the Hendersonville rd.   As we watched, the storm seemed to be stationary, for the moment.  Passing this "point of no return" I knew that there were two more bridges we might find shelter under if we needed it.  We kept riding. 

I told Jubal that if it started raining, we could find shelter under a bridge.  He said" Or we could keep riding"!  Right on!

Up and over the last long hill,   we crossed I-26 on the bridge.  Jubal was pedaling in quiet amazement.  He was thrilled to be going on a long ride with me, and that made me happy.  Riding down the hill towards hwy 191, Jubal said"  Daddy, I got cold but then I started pedaling to warm up".   We started to see and feel some rain drops.  The sky in front and to the left was dark gray with the storm.  We could hear the occasional clap of thunder.  The sky on the right was blue with white clouds.  Such a contrast.  We were thankful that at hwy 191, we were turning right. 

Once we got on Brevard Rd, the storm started to follow us, so we just kept pedaling.  Jubal asked how much farther.  I replied, "20 minutes".  He was getting tired but still having fun.  As we turned onto our friend's road, we both felt the excitement of reaching our goal. 

We got to the house early and didn't want to wake the family up, in case they were napping.  We snuck into the garage, I changed clothes, the we went down to the lower portion of their property and hung out until party time.  It was a great day and a great ride!!  
 

Have a great day.