Biking in Juneau

I love riding the GT commuter bike that Brooke so graciously lent me for the summer. It's been so nice to pump the 8 miles roundtrip to work on south Franklin, back to Douglas every day. Especially after being stuck behind the wheel of a bus for upwards of 12 hours.
This July, we have been super spoiled with the sunny weather. It broke to the 90's after the 4th, and since the sun breaks and breezy cloudy skies have been steadily moving towards the mid 60's and 70's.

Yesterday the rains came.

They came with a vengeance that made everyone in Juneau almost snap out of their heat drenched dream state. The 50 degree raw moisture permeated everything, and the wetness came down hard and steady.
Eventually when all the passengers were let off the coach, I returned the bus to the yard, and at around 9pm, it was time for me to get on home. The other drivers crowded into cars, jammed bikes into trunks, and waited around for the last city bus.
I yanked on my wet Marmot jacket, pulled my beanie down, put "Hard Times" by the Stanley Brothers on my ipod, and hopped on the old GT northwesterly to Douglas Island.

By the time I cleared Franklin Street I was head to two soaked. My glasses began to fog, and the speed limit on Egan drive jumped up to 40. Cars started whizzing by me splashing water all over me saturating my work pants, socks, shoes. I began to forget where the ugly potholes were as giant puddles pooled over them. I clumsily drove right into a series of deep lacerations in the new pavement, tipping me off balance. I felt my body bump against a passing pick up truck throwing me to the sidewalk side of the highway, the bike collapsing under me and to the left. I heard honking, screeching, and felt a cold hard wave of gutter water wash over me like a tsunami.

I pulled the bike over and within what seemed like a nano-second, found the sidewalk. I sat there until the shock wore off...3 miles from home. I crawled painfully back on the seat and slowly shifted down to cross over the Gastineau Channel bridge and began to climb the long graded hill to 5th street.

Today, I looked at a car to buy. If it wasn't for the rust, I would have paid cash for it immediately. My biking days are limited...Juneau summers can be fickle, we'll be lucky to get another good stretch of weather again until next year.