Isaac Blows Past Florida

Isaac gave Florida a pass and is heading on to landfall in the northern Gulf. Our area got heavy rain and some wind but no real storm impact. When Al and I had our first experience with a hurricane, we learned what "sustained wind" meant. In all the violent rain storms we had experienced in other areas of the country, wind speed went up and down, up and down. In a hurricane wind speed goes up and stays there. Gusts are on top of that already high wind speed. Isaac's sustained winds for were in the 25-30 mph range when bands of the storm went over us. Saying it another way, Isaac was no big deal as tropical storms go. A real storm would have sustained winds much, much higher that what Isaac dealt us. And it is why we feel such sympathy and concern for those on the northern Gulf coast who are being battered by Isaac as it literally stands still, pounding them hour after hour after hour with true hurricane force winds.

On a brighter note, after several days of being trapped in the house, Al and I were really delighted to get out and burn some energy on a nice bike ride this morning. At an hour past dawn the temperature was 81 degrees with a dewpoint of 75 degrees (hot and sticky), but there was a good size wind from the south and lots of cloud cover. Our route split the difference between riding with a headwind and with a tailwind. We did the headwind portion first, then enjoyed the tailwind home. (Sweet.)

Even our back yard turtles seemed happy this morning.

We passed four of these signs along the route of our ride. Overall, though, flooding was limited to very low-lying parts of the residential areas.

Ponds and creeks were greatly expanded in size.

Ditches were still brimming with water.

I'm happy to be outside!

Al is happy, too. (I just call him "Mr. Sunshine." He's not a real morning person...)

Waiting for Isaac

We took a short ride this morning. We haven't biked in almost a month. We've been water skiing (Wake Up and Water Ski), and we rarely bike on days we've been skiing. Today we just wanted to get out and stretch our legs. Isaac is coming. We are going to be stuck indoors for a couple of days.

Lots of people had the same idea as we did. There were more cyclists, walkers, and runners out than usual. Still it was hard imagining that a big storm was coming our way. It was windy but still quite nice. The skies were only partly cloudy.

One thing we did notice. Recent rains had turned areas where on our last ride cattle were grazing into areas with several feet of standing water. Drainage ditches beside the roads looked like creeks. Man-made retaining ponds were beginning to fill. In other words, things are going to flood in these low-lying areas when Isaac comes through.

Isaac will be passing a little to the west of us. Right now we expect it to be primarily a big rain event rather than a big wind/big rain event. We are making some nominal storm preparations outside. We will probably have sustained winds around 35 mph with gusts in the mid 40s. Which means things that are easily blown around need to be put away or tied down. We will close the hurricane shutters on our back screen porch as well. It saves damage to the screen porch and cuts down on the amount of rain blown in. In 2004 Hurricane Charley was on a similar track and was supposed to steer clear of us. Then the path changed just a teeny-tiny bit at the last minute. Charley paid us an unexpected and quite unpleasant visit. That taught us that the best plan is to expect things to be fine but to be prepared for much worse.

Venus in All Her Splendor

Venus, Florida, like many rural communities, is found by deciding where the sparse scattering of homes is densest. It is a popular destination for cyclists in our area. Today a tropical wave will be moving over the Florida peninsula. It should bring us rain this afternoon and evening. But this morning was perfect for a ride.

Another Morning in Cycling Paradise

We walked the cat and drank our coffee, talking about the day, and organizing our schedule. First would be a bike ride. We aren't water skiing today, and we need to burn off some energy before tackling chores and projects. It is a typical July morning. At dawn there is almost no wind, it is 80 degrees, and the dewpoint is in the lower 70s. Warm and humid, but considering the heat wave and drought in much of the rest of the country, easy to live with. Our high today will be in the low 90s, not the baking triple digits of so many places in the West and Midwest.

We ambled through our 1 mile warm up stretch to our starting point. From there we headed out on our loop ride, Al setting a brisk pace. We stopped briefly to feed the scrub jays and chat with another bike guy.

On a day like today, it is hard to deny the advantages of living and biking in rural Florida. At around 7:00, rush hour in the civilized world, I stopped and took a couple of pictures. Just to remind myself what a cycling paradise this area is.

Rush hour on one of our country roads.

Rush hour on a little used back road.

After the Rains, Plants Grow and Grow and Grow

We are back to typical summer weather. When we left on our morning ride, the sun was barely up. The air temperature was 73 degrees. The dewpoint was 73 degrees. The humidity? 100 per cent. Only light clouds in the sky. Your basic Florida summer morning. Today's high temperature will be in the low to mid 90s. By late afternoon (around 4:00) there will be rain, but it will end by 6:00. We joke about it. Why check the weather forecast? It is always the same.


We rode one of our local loops. Wildflowers are out after all the rain we've had. I mentioned it to someone who only sees the area from her car. "Wildflowers?" she said. "What wildflowers?" Ah the things people who don't ride a bike miss. The roadsides are green and flourishing, the ditches and low areas are awash with water, and wildflowers are plentiful. We rode past an area that burned this spring. It too was green, growing, and lush.

Bright blue scrub wildflowers

Common tickseed

Fine-leaved white-top sedge ("star-rush")

Wildfire area, April 2012

Wildfire area, July 2012

But no morning ride is complete without a cute critter. A small turtle was less than pleased at our attention to his progress across the road.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (After the Tropical Storm)

I'm sure the weather people have a simple explanation, but the day after a tropical storm or hurricane is always a fabulous summer Florida day. Perfect blue sky. Low humidity (for Florida). Everything green and thriving.

It was 75 degrees but the dewpoint was a lovely 63 degrees when we headed out. The sun, though, was bright due to the complete lack of cloud cover. The sun makes it feel about 15 degrees warmer than the thermometer tells you it is.

We were eager to burn off pent up energy. It had been a week of rain, more rain, wind, and more wind. No complaints as we really needed the rain. Our lake went from a record low to last summer's level in one week. It was the lack of tropical systems coming through our state last year that put us into drought.

And so we set out on our local loop. By the time we warmed up in about a mile, we agreed to go hard and not worry about blowing up. After all, we'd be home in under 2 hours. It was fabulous after days of inactivity. We just did the loop as fast as we could (with two very short stops to feed the scrub jays, of course.) It was sprint after sprint. And it was no surprise when we finished to find that we had done it in the fastest average speed we'd ever recorded for a ride. Ever. Anywhere.

Can't beat that.

Tropical Storm Debby

A small tornado crosses a pasture in Venus, Florida

We needed the rain. In fact, we need lots more rain. Tropical Storm Debby is moving at a slow crawl toward Florida's NW coast and the Florida Panhandle and is predicted to continue this slow pace across the state's northern counties. We've already seen a 4.5 inch rise in our lake level here, several hundred miles SE of the storm. That is a fair increase for a 3800 acre lake. That brings our lake level up to just over last spring's low point. (The lowest lake levels are normally in about April as we get very little rain in the cool weather months--hence our moniker, the Sunshine State.) It is raining as I type this, and the rain should continue for several more days. The main issue with rain from a tropical storm is the increased danger of severe weather, that is wind bursts and small tornadoes. That happened yesterday in fact. A small tornado ripped through the Venus area just south of us. The same storm hopped over us and the lake, then tore into a bunch of homes on the north end of our lake. Now these are very small tornadoes by the standards of the Midwest, Tornado Alley, or other such spots up north. But yesterday's storm did leave a woman in Venus dead and her young child seriously injured.

But this is a blog about bicycling, so the effect of Tropical Storm Debby is frustration, increasing boredom, and way too much time on our hands. All I can say is we will have very clean and shiny bikes on our next ride. Not to mention tidy gear bins, etc. (This sucks...)