Commuting - where is your "safe haven"

ok i should be doing some work around the house this saturday but been busy at work so haven't had my time to read up on the latest BF posts

two weeks back i headed home under some omnious skies, and was lucky enough to hit the library about 3/4 of the way home, just as it started pouring. 15 minutes later it was done, and i headed home

was curious if anyone has a few safe havens on their commute, or places that are scoped out for "waiting out" a really bad storm? (being summer and all).

i have a long stretch of residential streets with no businesses around, but there's a few elementary schools i go by and could duck under for shelter, and of course my library where i stop at frequently anyway...

and i'm lucky that my work is on a high point in denver with a great view of the front range, so i can look out the window and see if a storms coming from behind me (good - a tailwind), or from the side, (can usually outrun it), or from the north (bad bad, headwind AND rain)

or do you just push through the most driving rain :)

Reflective road vest, Bright LED rear light.

Middle of the lane riding hard.... if the rain don't sting when it hits me...I'm not riding hard enough.

*shrugs* a person can only get so wet. After that it don't matter how hard it rains ;)

In the morning, the safe haven is the office; after work, it's my house.

I never thought about a safe haven. There is a railroad underpass/tunnel I have to ride through on my route, the last big rain we had, I passed two other bikers waiting it ou in the tunnel and just kept going without a second thought. I was soggy already, so I figured it was just better to keep rolling and get home rather than wait for the rain to stop. Once your wet, what the heck, go for it!!

I just ride through it

No point in trying to avoid rain out here...

I only once have taken shelter in a rain storm to avoid the rain while riding (avoiding lightning is another story). It was last summer commuting in the Westchester hills. It was pouring so much that I worreid for the laptop in my backpack (wrapped in a couple of plastic bags). I feared for the lapto more than anything so I jumped off the bike to get under a tree... only to step into a lot of mud. Next time, now that I have a waterproof backpack, I'll keep riding. :)

Oh and there are pretty much no places for me to hide from rain on my current 100% Manhattan route.

It never rains in Southern California. We have only four seasons: Fires, floods, earthquakes and mudslides. OK, floods and mudslides are the same season.

It never rains in Southern California. We have only four seasons: Fires, floods, earthquakes and mudslides. OK, floods and mudslides are the same season.

LOL

Here in Sydney Australia it used to rain years ago but it doesn't any more :rolleyes: so now we just have the hot dry season and the cold dry season :p

I think that if it ever did rain again we'd all be so happy that we would strip off naked and run around in the rain to celebrate :o

I don't have a safe haven. I try not to stop for anything when I ride. Unless the weather is really bad, I don't stop. Even at night with my flashing lights and front headlight on my bike, I try to be as stealth as possible. Have a good night.

It never rains in Southern California. We have only four seasons: Fires, floods, earthquakes and mudslides. OK, floods and mudslides are the same season.


LMBO

I know exactly what you mean. The library is also a safe haven for me, as is a beautiful little coffee shop downtown. I think neighborhood bars can be a safe haven for some, churches for others. I love to sit under a bridge, or in a picnic shelter, and look out on a downpour.

In very cold weather, there are stores and other public buildings I will pull into to warm up for a couple minutes, deice my spectacles and blow my nose.

It also pays to know where the public restrooms are located in the city, and where to find bushes that serve that purpose in rural areas.

I have never had to utilize them, but I have in mind safe places to ride to late at night if I am ever harrassed or pursued.

went out for a cruise in Denver af ew years back and got caught in a quick torrential rain. Just turned onto Cherry Creek path near downtown so i hid under a bridge.
I realized quickly my mistake when the creek started to overflow and washed out the path below me (and the easy way out.) I watched another cyclist try to cross the path of a fire-hose like spouting drain pipe and get washed into the creek. He was able to swim ashore and we both made for alternate exits.

Now i just get wet.

I am vulnerable on the way home through residential areas, but on the way to work, I go through mostly commercial areas and am never very far from some building with some overhanging part that I can get under. I duck in, and if it looks like it will rain a while, I put on the rain gear and proceed. At least once I have stopped, put on the pants, jacket, gloves, got all suited up, and the rain stopped.