Ride Out the Storm

A few days ago, Typhoon #18 passed between the mainland of Okinawa and the outlying Daito islands*. It was apparently a pretty wicked storm, but I think a lot of luck was had (at least from the mainland Okinawan perspective) when it traveled over mostly ocean.

The whole experience was made a little more interesting because I've got a friend from the US in town right now. She's borrowing my car during the days so she can get around the island, while I'm using my bike to get back and forth from school. Most days, the bike is great - it's small, it's fast, and it saves gas. But on a pre-typhoon day, things get interesting.

Of greatest effect was the wind. Strong gusts from the side would hit me and the bike. I lowered my speed to keep any surprise gusts from blowing me and my bike into the woods or the sea or oncoming traffic. Combine that wind with sea water, however, and you get some wicked waves. Waves big enough to crash over the sea barriers placed along the coast, making roads slick and helmet visors hard to see through. Both of these caused me to take an inland route back to my house on Tuesday. But the typhoon winds even made life hard there, when I came across a tree that had been blown over and was obstructing my lane (thank you, emergency braking practice!). Having passed that obstacle, random debris and rain slowed me down the rest of the ride.

I made it home just fine, but I definitely wouldn't have tried it if the typhoon was any closer.

And lest you think it was all bad, not so! Today, the skies are clear, the wind is pleasant, and I had a great ride to work, though I suppose I can start worrying about the weather getting too cold to ride now. Maybe it's time to invest in a "winter" jacket.

*I want to put up a link to Google Maps or something similar, but the connection here is so slow, it's timing out. If you want, copy and past the following Japanese into the search bar to see where the islands are: 沖縄県北大東島