Cycling the World; June 2009; Scientific American Earth 3.0; by Jim Cornfield; 4 Page(s)

A band of spring showers is chasing me along a stretch of beachside road near Los Angeles. Im pedaling hard to stay ahead of it, but the prospects are diminishing. The narrow tires of my road bike hiss on the dampening asphalt. Although Im enjoying my little race with nature, I keep glancing back over my shoulder at this fast-moving mantle of weather like it's a posse in hot pursuit.

I've traveled this same highway before, but always sealed inside an automobile, insulated from the exhilarating sensation I'm having right now: the feeling of skimming between sea foam to one side of me and striated cliff faces to the other. Suffusing the entire moment is the faintly electrical smell of approaching rain.