Some riding, some swimming...

Today, the weather was 90ºF, extremely humid, and windy. Perfect day for a bike ride, right? 

Not really. I don't have a great history of riding in the heat, and it's proven pretty dangerous for me in the past. I wasn't about to let it stop me though, so I decided to take it easy and go for a short ride to Lake Nepessing. (And maybe cool off a little.)

On the way there, I was stopped by some wayward fishermen trying to find the lake. I chatted with them for a few minutes and sent them off with directions to the lake. I often rely on the kindness of strangers, so I like to reciprocate that when I can. While I don't believe in karma, I like the idea of it.

By the time I got there, they were just getting the boat in the water. After a wave and a hello, I continued on my way. I stopped at the docks at Castaways, splashed myself a bit to cool off, then headed back home. Not wanting to do much backtracking, I decided to take Bullock Road back.

Perhaps I should've paid attention to this warning...

I knew Bullock Road would be tricky, as it's been flooded since April. However, I didn't expect our recent rainfall to transform it into a navigable waterway.

The road commission has constructed a makeshift driveway through the water for the unfortunate person whose house was made inaccessible by the flood. The total flooded distance was just over a quarter mile...most of which I waded through.

From the end of the "driveway"

I mean, wasn't about to let some water get in the way of my plan (or force me to ride five miles out of my way, as my potable water supply was running low), so I decided it would be best to just portage the bike through the rest of the water.

Well, it ended up being about 2.5' deep throughout. I wasn't kidding about it being navigable; another foot of water and we could've sailed Morris down the road. (And it was windy enough to do so!) The source of the flood wasn't a river or lake, so there was no current—I felt perfectly safe just walking across it. In fact, it was nice to have another chance to cool off.