Saturday, August 3, 2013

The sound of lightning

Lightning sounds like electric arc welding.  It's a steady coarse buzzing sound.  It's exactly like you remember from old Frankenstein movies.  And if you're close, it's really loud.

Jayjay and I heard it 'REALLY LOUD' today while riding the RUSA Tar Heel 200K in eastern North Carolina.  We had just ridden into a squall, the lightning was getting closer, and we were totally soaked.  Oh, and we were the tallest things around as we rode through barren farm fields on both sides.  I was getting a bit concerned.

Then it happened.  Cloud-to-cloud lightning from far to our left, passed directly over our heads, to some destination far to our right.  "Dzdzdzdzdzdzddz".   I got a little more concerned.

Luckily, we were a short distance from the Averasboro Battlefield Museum.  Our bikes took flight on their own, the fastest they did all day, and got us to the museum pronto.  We sheltered there for 15 minutes as the storm passed.

The rest of the day, however, both before and after this event, was gorgeous.  Continuous overcast.  Intermittent warm rains.  Wonderful tailwind on the return.

And we passed Rando Ian near the turnaround point at Tar Heel, NC.  (Click the thumbnail photo to enlarge.)

A great day on the bikes.