woke up a bit early this morning so I opted for a different route to work.  my plan was to cross chain bridge and take a look at what the river was doing.  there was a sleepy rollout from the undisclosed location.  I rode sort of due east on idylwood.  there i got my first view of some of the damage form the recent storms.

the pictures here don't really do it justice.  there are bowling ball size cavities up under the pavement.  they may be larger but I could not tell.  i don't know if these will lead to sinkholes or crumbling pavement or not.  it doesn't look particluarly good.  i rode on and followed kirby (the back side of pete's hill ride) to chesterbrook and then down to the river.  and the river is impressive.

you can see whole tree trunks turning end over end in the eddy currents and you can feel the power of the water.  it's absolutely amazing.  and not more than 100m to the east is a slightly more elevated area that has flooded but it's completely pastoral.  a huge contrast to what seems like an awfully big angry river.

i spun down to the canal to have a look down there as well. 

the canal is topping out.  it's not really overflowing it's banks but there are some areas you need to be careful on.  if anyone is looking for a change of pace from their normal ride, throw a pair of 28's on your training wheels and take a spin on the path.  it's really beautiful, and the size of the turtles down there will stun you.

- - - posted by scott