Storm Warning

Jon Scott

Aug 16, 20222 min read

Updated: Dec 11, 2022

“I’m gonna wish I had a storm warning

I’m gonna wish I had a sign

I’m gonna wish I had a little heads up

Little leeway, little more time”

- Hunter Hayes

I’ve done it again. On a day where largely nothing happened, I managed to encounter yet another thunderstorm. Granted, it had been in the forecast for several days, but I’m in a part of the country now where there are very few alternatives. There’s typically only one paved road to ride, and if that takes me into another rainstorm, so be it. Such was the case today, although I will say I did seem to miss the really heavy stuff. I guess I was riding just slow enough that the toad-strangler had gone on by before I got there, leaving behind just the annoying persistent rain that doesn’t stop you from doing anything, but gets you soaked nonetheless. Also, the lyrics aren’t exactly right, as I did have a sign. I could see the rain directly in the mountains all around me for perhaps an hour before I started to get wet.

Beyond that, it was a rather dull, lifeless day of transition across Boebertia (aka western Colorado), home to one of our favorite insurrectionist supporters and gun-toting bar owners, Lauren Boebert. This is a vast area of nothingness, except for roadside litter and people passing through to get to the pretty part of the state that I’ll be riding through tomorrow. There was a ton of traffic. I am staying tonight in the home of the mayor of Ridgway, Colorado. Apparently this is one of the few bastions of progressive thought in this region, but since it is the larger of the only two incorporated towns in this county (Ouray), it was enough for this county to be blue in an otherwise sea of red. It was described to me like this: Ridgway is for ponytails and mountain bikes and Ouray is for rednecks and Texans - same thing.