[Dirt Merchant]

Last night my friend and I were trying to beat an approaching storm,
by sneaking a ride in at the local park. As soon as we were deep in the woods, the wind and rain really picked up. Once the lightning started we decided to turn around. We were haulin' down the trail that leads out of the woods and into the clearing, (golf course) and it's access road,
when at the the last second we both slammed on our brakes, afraid to go out into the openness. Two seconds later, in that same opening where we would've been, lightning struck! It blinded us and rung our ears, and my friend felt the hair on his body stand-up! It was as if it was following us down that trail, just waiting for the opening to destroy us. We threw down our bikes, (read: freaked out) rushed back in the woods, and layed on the muddy ground in the pouring rain for at least 15 mins.. When it let up, (not really) we made a dash for the relative safety of the truck; I looked back once, and swear I saw another rider behind us! They never appeared at the trailhead:
was it a ghost? Or were they maybe struck down? Was it anyone here?

 

[robdamanii]

Moral of thread? Don't ride in thunderstorms.

 

[hooples3]

yet another reason to ride a fully carbon bike

 

[manhattanprjkt83]

DUDE im assuming by your sig you are in NY, but i did the same thing yesterday! I went out hoping it wouldnt rain, being the moron i am took a trail at a local park that takes me pretty far away from anything. I get back to almost the furthest point, and the sky turned black. I started hauling ass out of the trail, hit the hard road, and did this huge road climb to cut a corner back to the car, right when i got to my car one of the worst thunderstorms i can remember EVER hit. I was sorta freaked!

 

[Echo]

Damn. I was feeling like a wuss for bailing on my road ride last night, but not anymore

 

[H8R]

Lightning is bright and loud

DING DING DING DING DING!!

You win this round of "No Sh*t Sherlock"

 

[DHS]

yup so loud it broke 2 windows at my work. pretty intense. yet pretty cool
glad to hear you guys are ok though.

 

[Morryjg]

Lightning is bright and loud

DING DING DING DING DING!!

You win this round of "No Sh*t Sherlock"

Actually, I think Lightning is bright and THUNDER is loud.

 

[H8R]

Actually, I think Lightning is bright and THUNDER is loud.

Ok, technically it's the rapid expansion of super-heated air that is produced in a lighting strike that is loud.

:nuts:

 

[Andy_B]

Keep the tree tops at a 45 deg angle as you ride next to them you will be all set.

Tree tops
I
I
I
I
----------you

 

[lovebunny]

what? why? sorry im in socal so im slightly ignorant to this whole water falling out of the sky thing

 

[wannabeabonedoc]

I'm jealous lovebunny. I used to live in Encinitas, Oside, San Clemente, Escondido, Vista, and Mission Viejo. I miss CA weather. Va is much wetter. I digress. A friend and I were riding one of our trails as it was starting to sprinkle, but never heard any thunder til we got about a half mile in, then all of a sudden it was dark and thunderous. I think lightning hit a tree near us cuz the thunder that followed was super loud. scared the bejeebus out of me

 

[robdamanii]

After driving BB32 to work this morning, I went through an area that was annhilated by the lightning, wind and rain. At least a dozen trees down across the road in a 2 block radius. Unbelieveable.