October 18, 2018
Riders on the storm
I’ve been waiting to use this title
The rain started in friendly little droplets at 1:30am, but soon stopped. At 3:30am, it returned, along with more ominous signs: thunder and lightning. It continued like this for a couple of hours, with the intensity picking up slowly but surely. Then the deluge began. I put my faith in the rain fly and, thankful that at least the thunder had subsided, I managed to fall back into a light sleep. Sunyoung woke me two minutes before our agreed-upon time of 7:15 to pack up and ride to the train station.
I assessed the situation. It was not great. My vestibule was inundated by about a centimeter of water. The primary victim was my cycling shoes. Ugh. Sunyoung’s side was better, but still had standing water. Lucky for us, the tent itself was relatively dry.
We put on our headlamps, our rain gear, our shoes (ugh again), and started trying to put a game plan together. I suggested hauling all our gear to the relative dryness of the dishwashing area. We literally picked up the tent, fly, and footprint as a single unit. This worked out pretty well, but now we were well-lit and had an audience. I think the onlookers were very sympathetic. We managed to stuff everything in the panniers and don our wet-weather gear without too much cursing.
Thankfully we had walked the route from the train station to the campsite the previous evening, so we didn’t need help navigating. I pictured us riding into the station and shaking the water off like dogs, but the rain started dying out as we rode, and we arrived in better shape than I had expected.
The train was waiting for us at the platform. There were perhaps thirty other passengers, including a cyclist. We wanted to board, but the doors wouldn’t open. No big deal, it was early yet. But soon there was a big commotion coming from the next platform. A sea of passengers spilled from the train, up the ramp, and down the next ramp straight towards us!
Just then, and much to my relief, a local train pulled up and sucked in the crowd. Soon our group was alone again, but there was a growing restless. It was past departure time now, and there was no announcement. The two of us were in no hurry. We were just happy to be in a dry space.
Another twenty minutes goes by. Finally the train pulls up. We do our little bike and pannier dance. This time, though, we notice: hooks! Sunyoung and I argued briefly about whether to use them or to go with our previous technique of standing them side by side. I insisted we try it the “right” way, but she is correct that the “wrong” way actually leaves more room for passengers to get by.
So the train sits another 15 minutes before we leave the station. There was still no announcement. Even Amtrak, known for its lackluster service, makes announcements when it's delayed. But the train finally trudged forward, and we continued without incident.
It was raining lightly in Sevilla. We slowly fumbled through the city, across the bridge, and on to a dedicated bike path that took us all the way to Santiponce. As we neared town, the driver of a little truck gave us a friendly honk. It’s Francisco, our host! We followed him to the cabin, and now here we are wringing out our socks in this little hermitage.
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Today's ride: 12 km (7 miles)
Total: 898 km (558 miles)
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