stevebiker

I live in an area that gets lots of thunderstorms. In the summer, it can rain nearly every day. Ergo, to ride regularly, you often find yourself riding in rain and thunder.

Do you worry about lightning? I don't, for two basic reasons:

1. Where I live, there are a lot of trees and other tall "conductors" that lightening could choose from. Unless lightening is very close, I'm not too worried about it.

2. My bike has rubber tires. Lightning does not conduct through rubber. That's why being inside a car is one of the safest places you can be in a lightning storm. Or on a bike, right?

JerrySTL

Wrong about #2 . Do you think a thin strip of rubber is going to stop lightning that has moved through thousands of feet of air? Plus your tires are probably wet which would conduct around the tires. Cars are good places in lightning because a lightning hit will usually go around on the outside of the car's metal body. Still a good idea to have the windows rolled up. YMMV in something like a Corvette that doesn't have a metal body.

imi

Nope, wrong. The car protects you as it is a "Faraday cage".

mprelaw

snopes.com: Tires Protect Car from Lightning?

If you doubt snopes, here's something a little more official sounding.

https://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/lightning.html

JerrySTL

Thanks. "Faraday cage" is what I was looking for.

fietsbob

The Godz are trying to tell you about something..

mprelaw

Ragtops don't protect you either. Metal frame, metal body, metal roof. The voltage in lightning can easily arc the distance between the frame and the ground.

Daniel4

Probably the best approach would be to ditch the bike (because there's metal all over it) and hide in the bushes until the storm passes. If your bike hasn't been struck, then carry on.

vatdim

If it's a heavy thunderstorm, I'd usually wait for it to pass. However, if I get caught in a thunderstorm and there's not a good enough spot I could use to protect myself from the elements, I'd just go on cycling, as long as I'm able to. Will I be any safer dismounting and standing next to my bike? I don't know, but I don't think so.

mprelaw

Lay the bike down, and get in the fetal position on the ground. Safest thing you can do if you're caught out in the open.

Cross Creek

From the National Severe Storms Laboratory, in a discussion about lightning strikes far away from storms: A helmeted bicyclist experienced a lightning strike to the head under fair weather conditions with a cloudless sky. It was determined that the bolt probably originated in a thunderstorm that was about 16km away and obscured by mountains. ...OUCH!

Giant Fuji

I check the weather before I depart. We have lots of thunderstorms here, regularly they are severe. I wouldn't risk it myself.

Machka 

Yes ... lay the bicycle down in the ditch and walk away from it. Then crouch (not sit, not lay, not curl up in a fetal position) in the ditch yourself. Crouch so that the only thing touching the ground are the balls of your feet.

gregf83 

Correct. And the reason is not to protect against a direct strike but to not experience a potential difference in voltage if lightning strikes a nearby tree. Cows are often killed because the current travels through the tree and along the ground and causes a voltage gradient along the ground. Keep your feet close together.

jfowler85

1. No. Energy takes the path of least resistance, which is why skyscrapers have lightning rods. The way that lightning works is basically like this: opposite static charges build up both in the clouds and down on the corresponding location on the ground/object. When the difference in charge is great enough, the transfer of energy is facilitated from the sky to the ground (sort of). We see this manifested as a bolt of lightning. Unless you are the path of lest resistance, e.g., riding through an open field under an active thunderstorm, then you probably have nothing to worry about. Does this mean you should take your bike out in a lightning storm? Nope. Does this mean I would do such a thing? Nope. Although, if I am riding through town (which is comprised of many buildings much taller than I) and the lightning starts, I will simply continue on home.

2. No. A single lightning strike contains an incredible amount of energy which is not going to be put off by two narrow strips of not-so-conductive tires, considering the short distance to the ground which the flow of plasma could circumvent around the non-conductive tires.

Just get out and ride.

A while back, while volunteering in southeast WY, I was off in the boonies rock climbing with my wife. We rode our bikes there - both lugged steel, and about 1/4 of the way back a thunderstorm rolled up from what was, just moments ago, a clear blue sky. The lightning was absolutely fantastic, and we passed the only tree along the way for a mile or so. No crouching, no bike-ditching, we just rode on and enjoyed the show. Well...one of us enjoyed the show; the other was about ready to cry. I shall not name who was who.

Cross Creek

BTW, as fishermen learned during the great transition from fiberglass to graphite back in the 70s and 80s, carbon fiber is a GREAT conductor

dpd3672

Yep, it'll turn your bike into a giant lightbulb filament, lol.

molten

What about the metal Spokes, between the c/f hub & c/f rim/rubber tire?

molten

Lightning add ARTWORK, Thunder add music to the already raining.
Cyclists in my area who don't ride in the rain are rated (by Me) as a bunch of sissies. As most cyclists are transients (non-natives) of my area where they cycle. They move in my area for the sunshine, from their area where there been more rain/thunderstorms ---- for their intent to escape such.
As I been a native of the sunshine. Enjoying a change in the weather. Add my skill of those motorists who don't know how to drive in the rain (as there also be lesser traffic at that time too)

stevebiker

Interesting comments. I don't think I'll stop, lay the bike over and crouch in a ditch the next time a thunderstorm pops up, but may be more circumspect about going out if thunderstorms are already in the area.

But maybe not. I've heard being struck by lightning lets you see into the future and all kinds of cool things.

CliffordK

I have an acquaintance from years ago who got under a tree in a storm with his wife. The tree was struck by lightening. She survived, he didn't.

I still might go under a tree to keep out of the rain, but perhaps if there are two people, choose different trees, so if one gets struck, the other person wouldn't be too dazed to perform first aid and CPR.

When I was in Missouri, I've ridden in thunder storms, or tried to race them home. Sometimes they were unavoidable. I would usually pay attention to how close the lightening/thunder seemed to be (seconds away).

The worst thing was being out for an afternoon ride and the tornado sirens started blasting from all directions. I never quite knew what to do. I never actually saw a tornado though. The plan at work was to send everyone home if there was an imminent tornado threat. I never felt that riding my bike home was the best thing to do during a tornado threat.

They had the space, I have no idea why they didn't just half bury a connex box and make a tornado shelter. But, I'm sure insurance made it look better if everyone scattered on the roads.

KZBrian

The Sheriff's department came by announcing "Dangerous storm coming! Find shelter!"

So we did.

imi

Surviving a lightning strike can mess you up so much, that it may have been better not to...

mprelaw

So is salt water, and the metal guides on a fiberglass fishing rod.

bikecrate

Since I live in FL with lots of thunderstorms this time of year and I ride a pretty regular route, I always have a number of "shelters" I've mentally marked out along the way if I need cover during a storm.