Hell or High Water

Monsoon

I parlayed my ride-time to Friday night. Skipping ALL of the beautiful weather, I headed out with dark-clouds moving-in. I met Jon at the bike shop and we began another urban assault, which has been the core of my training program for PMBAR.
True to the mission of making it a challenging ride, we began the assault on Sharps Ridge in North Knoxville. The steep pitch and unrelenting climb surrendered, all but the last of my remaining will, to reach the top; without walking.
View from the top of Sharp's Ridge
Once we reached the top and enjoyed the view over the city, clouds came from the backside and moved in quickly, bringing a deluge. We headed along the top of the ridge to a "shelters small-overhang"; where we made a few adjustments. I put a night light on, and wrapped a few things up in my bag, then sat and watched the rain come down for a moment.
We climbed back on to the bikes (shivering cold, since the temperature had dropped at least 20-degrees.) The rain picked-up and pounded as we worked our way back into downtown. Along the way I got a call from the wife, and she had left the dog outside. She wasn't worried about me in the rain, but we had to get the dog back inside. I was at least 45 minutes from the house, and only 5 minutes from Erics house, where there were a few Bruisin' Ale's awaiting consumption. I split from Jon and made it back to West Knox and got the dog in so my wife could continue her evening, without worrying about the dog.
ON THE WAY HOME I JUMPED A HAWK! Yes that's right, I jumped a hawk on my bike, at about 20 miles an hour! I was hauling the mail down third creek greenway in the dark, riding in the middle of the bike trail. I look into the darkness with the help of my HID light and see a giant bird with wings outstretched, flying directly at me. Coasting about 6 inches above the ground, the bird and I were on a crash course and I had no choice but to pull up and jump over it. I landed on the other side and laughed all the way home. Then by the time I got back out, had forgotten about it. Until this morning.

After making it home I put on dry clothes and got in the car, to head back downtown.