It's All About the Timing

Last night we got through dinner and most of the dishes outside before Ana came to visit.  What a deluge!  It's one of those things you can't control, so slept well with the thought that I'd see what the morning brought.  Everyone seems to have their own weather source on-line.  The one I was looking at said there was a bit of a lull between 7 & 9 am.  So - with breakfast scheduled for 7:30 I had everything ready to go and was on the road about 7:45.  We had a few more riding today.  I understand that 8 people chose to ride in the van.

Indeed it was not raining when I set out.  As close as I could figure it, the storm "made landfall" last night so the winds had shifted from yesterday.  The winds were now from the east and southeast.  How convenient; we are headed north.  Our route took us on nice quiet roads into Wilmington.  We came in through a bit of an industrial area with 4 sets of nasty railway tracks.  Ann & I were the first two out today and we made it across them safely, but a rider soon after us slipped on the wet tracks and went down hard.  She was taken to hospital by ambulance but has been released and is back with us.  Here's hoping she's OK.  Wilmington is a city of almost 30,000.  Our route took us through some historic residential areas and managed to avoid any of the busy business areas.  Nice.  

It looks like a city that would be worth spending some time in.  Lots of historic signs and homes & other buildings.  But - the storm clouds were all around us so off we went!  

Continued to dodge the weather and rode some lovely blacktop through rural/rural suburbia/countryside areas until sighting the van at about 40 miles.  They reported that everyone behind us had been drenched several times already.  

I managed to stay dry until the last 3.5 miles (against the wind) in to our Surf City hotel.  Suddenly the roads were filled with small lakes.  Sure glad I didn't have this all day!  The rain seems to come and go. We had a bit of a window when we went out for lunch and in honour of Mother's Day we all received a carnation.  

It's now pouring and windy out again.  We're staying in a no-star hotel in a tiny beach town just a few blocks from the beach.  Below is the view from the third floor.  

Even the mobile homes here are elevated.  

Rest day tomorrow.  Maybe Ana will blow herself out.....

Stats for the day:

86 km 

1500 feet up and similar down

Interesting experience riding in my first   tropical storm.  Lots of turns along the route had us dealing with tailwinds, crosswinds and headwinds.