Tuesday, 15 May 2007

Tuesday 15 May - Racing into the storm

Houston - Marshfield, MO

69 miles
5 hours and 16 minutes in the saddle
38.4 mph max speed
13.1 mph average speed

We left Houston in glorious sunshine early this morning. The Weather Channel, our favorite channel (we are addicted - ask Mette for the forecast in your area!) had given us information that suggested severe thunderstorms were on their way. Following our Illinois experience we know that cycling through thunderstorms is not a good idea. Our intention was to reach Marshfield around midday and thereby beat the storm.

The incentive of not getting wet or struck by lightning worked to keep up our speed in spite of 15 mph headwinds. 10 miles out of Marshfield the storms hit us and we saught shelter at a church along the road. It was not open, but at least it had a porch which sheltered us from the driving rain. After about 45 minutes of waiting the weather seemed to clear and we decided to make a dash for Marshfield. We had to abort the attempt when more stormy clouds gathered right over our head. We raced back to the church watching angry, black clouds in our rearview mirror. We spent another hour waiting at the church for the weather to clear. Finally, the rain and thunderstorms cleared enough for us to cycle to Marshfield without getting wet.

When we arrived in town we found out that a tornado had passed by us, about 3 miles away. We are very happy not to have seen it. We hope we will not see any tornadoes in Missouri, Kansas or anywhere else along the way.

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