Dan Pfaff and I skipped the nice weather on Saturday and rode the
Hound Dog 124K permanent on Sunday. It was the first day of May and time to ride our monthly 100K in pursuit of the
RUSA P-12 award. The sky was clear when we left Springfield at 7:00. I was concerned about flooding in some of the low areas because of the recent heavy rains, so I brought a map in case we had to find a detour or two. The low-water crossing on Farm Road 178, west of Republic, did have about two inches of water flowing over it, but we had no trouble riding across it. Overflow from the pond and drainage ditch on Mill Street, east of Billings, covered all but about a foot of pavement on the crown of the road. We had a north wind that helped push us over the hills on the southbound segments.
The sky was completely overcast by the time we reached the Aurora control, and rain started to fall just as we were leaving. Soon, we were also being pelted by raindrop-size hail that pinged on my steel bike frame. The hail only fell for about 10 minutes. We made a stop in Billings for hot chocolate. We were fortunate in that the north wind stopped blowing for much of the ride north between Billings and MO Highway TT. The rain continued until we reached the control in Springfield. A good training ride for adverse weather conditions.
Dan at the Aurora control unpacking his rain jacket
Dan riding into Springfield
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