Training & Nutrition - 30 miles today in a torrential downpour today

Did not see any other bikers out there . Maybe the rain drops scared them to the TV room . Even got hit with a tidle wave after a car when trough a deep puddle . Wasnt cold , unless I stopped to stretch and after the ride my bike actually looked cleaner . Pretty cool people . I think Im becoming addicted . Its all I think about now . I even told my wife that my bike was really my wife :)
jar

I enjoy riding in the rain, just not when it's lightning.

Yup
Thats the only thing that would stop me . Lightning storms are a big no no for me .
:)
jar

Yup
Thats the only thing that would stop me . Lightning storms are a big no no for me .
jar

Ahh, but it is a great way to train. :eek: You see a storm coming towards you with lightning in it and it "encourages" you to turn tail and head for home. Just as fast as your legs can spin.

A warm summer rain is nice to ride through. When it really starts pouring I look for a place to hole up. Ditto if there's lightning nearby.

Summer rain is tolerable. I got rained on yesterday, but it was warm enough that it didn't matter. Maine has a lot of cold rain, and I've had some unpleasant problems because of it.
Hikers used to say something to the effect they they were more worried about cold rain than snow.

Hikers used to say something to the effect they they were more worried about cold rain than snow.

Back in my backpacking days (pre Gore-tex) cold rain worried me more than snow also. With snow, you can dress for the cold and still stay warm. With a cold rain, you would get soaked unless you stayed in your tent. Once soaked, you gradually got colder and colder because your wet clothes sucked the heat out of you. Hyperthermia is very nasty.

The odds are way better that you will get hit by a car than lightning so if you are bold enough to ride on the road with traffic than lightning should not be a problem.

A lot of my routes are out in farm country, except for the occasional tree, I'm the tallest object out there. If I was riding in a more urban area, then the lightning wouldn't bother me as much.

I got lost on a mountain ridge once, in a storm. When I say in a storm, I was in the damn thunder cloud. It was so loud when the thunder roared I went straight up a foot a few times. I have never heard anything that loud. It was otherwordly, and terrifying.
I take risks,but get up close and personal with that much power, and I guarantee you'll get an attitude adjustment.

I have rode in a lite rain and no bother on the back roads. The main roads, I do not want to go down. Done races and MS rides in the rain. I got caught in a thunder storm Tuesday. I was headed home, black omnious sky when I got a flat. Changed the tire and thunder and lite rain started. The old tube gave out after 4' :( I change to a new tube and by the time I was done it was heavy rain and lots of thunder :eek: I called my wife to come get me as the lighting was close and to be honest it scared the crap out of me. I came out of the old abandon road at 28 mph /168 HR all up hill. Now I watch the sky a little better. We got caught in a lite drizzle yesterday and that was no big deal as we were already wet with sweat. In the winter now that is a different issue.

Yup
Thats the only thing that would stop me . Lightning storms are a big no no for me .
:)
jar

I've ridden in many lightening storms quite happily, and will do so again next time we get one (probably not for a few months now). Contrary to popular belief, the risk of actually being struck by lightening is actually incredibly small, and certainly much smaller than the risks we all take in day to day life (including those that have nothing to do with the weather).

The odds are way better that you will get hit by a car than lightning so if you are bold enough to ride on the road with traffic than lightning should not be a problem.

G'day,

you might be right about the odds of car v lightening.......but why take the chance. Last summer our club bunch ride was out on our Sunday morning 50 miler when a storm rolled in. We pushed on in the rain when an almighty explosion happened about 20m from us. Lightening had hit a tree, which exploded in a shower of sparks. About 6 guys got knocked off their bikes by the 'shock wave'....my brand new HRM was completely fried. most of us couldn't hear anything for a few hours & then had ringing in our ears for a couple of days. Needless to say we found shelter until the storm passed!,

cheers,

Hitchy

I am with Hitchy here! I will find cover as I will not chance the odds on the lightning. That last storm got my attention :eek:

The odds are way better that you will get hit by a car than lightning so if you are bold enough to ride on the road with traffic than lightning should not be a problem.

As someone who has been struck by lightning I don't find this to be very good advice.

Plus your comparison doesn't hold up. The odds of getting struck by lightning are for everyone, including for those people who don't go outside, don't live in areas with frequent lightning storms, etc. If you had odds for people getting struck by lightning while outside in a lightning storm I'll bet you'll find that the odds would decrease considerably.

I even told my wife that my bike was really my wife :)
jar
You'll get accused of that soon enough, "you spend more time with that bike..." etc. etc., no need to encourage her. ;)

Just kidding... cycling is the only time/money pit that my wife has ever been even half-way supportive of... I can't get used to it. :)

roadbuzz, same here, my wife is supportive of my bike habbit :) Building new wheels now as she let me get rim and Chris King hubs :).

I've ridden in many lightening storms quite happily, and will do so again next time we get one (probably not for a few months now). Contrary to popular belief, the risk of actually being struck by lightening is actually incredibly small, and certainly much smaller than the risks we all take in day to day life (including those that have nothing to do with the weather).


Now ya got me thinking :)
jar