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@Velocio
Near Twickenham during the Winter Equinox about 8 years ago I cycled down the side of the Thames and figured the flooding couldn't be that bad and continued. It eventually submerged my feet, then BB, and finally my knees would slosh under on every pedal stroke.
I couldn't turn because of the narrow path and not knowing where the edge of the river was, I couldn't stop because I wouldn't start again. Thankfully I was on a hybrid at the time and just put it into granny gear and just carried on.
When I came out after a few hundred meters the bike was soaked as was I. It was freezing, and there was debris all over my legs and the bike. I needed to strip the whole thing down and eventually had to replace pretty much all of the bearings on the thing (BB, headset, wheels). It was extremely damaging to submerge the bike in water for so long and not to have serviced it instantly afterwards.
Good fun though :) I was grinning.