Waterworld

So far this summer I had been lucky enough to somehow miss most of the major greenway flooding. I either was running from encroaching storms or just getting rained on as they started most of the summer. Today a thunderstorm sat over west/downtown knox for about 30 minutes dumping a sizable deluge right before I left work. While the 3rd Creek greenway was relatively flood free I was met with quite the river on the west Knox greenways. I now know why the damn cement paths are so slick.

The pot O gold is the First TN headquarters. Unfortunately you can't have rainbows without "rain".

Ride started out as just another damp drizzle ride.

Don't usually see water this high out west...this is where I started to wonder what it was going to be like ahead.



Squeaky brakes.

Now I knew something was a miss. The stream had clearly recently been out of it's banks and I saw two muskrats fighting the current and trying to get out of the water.

At this point I was a bit intimidated but decided to ford.

About halfway through I decided this might have been one of those times where I should have taken the alternate route. Much like the Oregon trail I was at the mercy of the water. Did I mention every time I ever tried to ford in Oregon trail Jimmy fell off and drowned? I still remember my swift water rescue course and found myself questioning my decision to ford over and over. I figured as long as I could guess where the pavement was and stayed up right I should be ok...

The water stayed about 6-10" deep until the last segment where the water level rose enough to put some buoyancy pressure on my panniers (18"?enough to keep my complete pedal stroke under water), which amazingly are well sealed with the welded seams and stayed dry.

Approaching land.

Whew made it!

Riding through puddles in the dark not knowing the depth is always fun. Lots of leaves on the G way, it's prime season for breaking bones on the greenways be careful out there it's going to be slick in spots the next few days.